07 May 2004
	Brian Joffe The art of acquisition BY MARINA BIDOLI

The panel expressed great admiration for the Bidvest Group's executive chairman, who built from scratch one of SA's largest and most successful diversified groups, employing more than 70 000 people worldwide. This JSE conglomerate covers the fields of service, distribution and trading. It has subsidiaries listed on the London, Australian and Luxembourg stock exchanges. Besides Bidvest's recent R947m acquisition of motor distributor McCarthy, the group also made news by selling 15% of its equity to the relative-ly unknown Dinatla black empowerment consortium. Though the panellists highlighted the criticism of the deal, Bidvest's empowerment policies have been honed by Joffe's confidant and Bidvest deputy chairman, Fani Titi. Joffe, it seems, has made acquiring and turning companies around into an art at a time when the diversified conglomerate model is out of fashion.