RECM was founded 2003 as a traditional third-party fund management business By Piet Viljoen.  A few years later, Jan van Niekerk joined.

Our investment approach is unashamedly based on fundamental research and we aim to purchase assets for our various portfolios which are cheap relative to its intrinsic value.  We therefore sometimes invest in areas that are profoundly unpopular.

As our business grew, some of its activities were better suited under separate, dedicated management teams.

In 2014 the RECM Group acquired a controlling interest in WellsFaber, an independent private client wealth management company. The RECM Group’s private client interests are now managed completely independently from the fund management business.

In 2019, the public fund management component of RECM, which comprised all pension and unit trust fund management activities, were combined with those of Counterpoint Asset Management, to form a larger public fund manager, with its own dedicated management team. Counterpoint Asset Management was subsequently renamed to Merchant West Investments in 2023 and the RECM group remains a significant shareholder in the business.

RECM is a broad based investment business with skills and capabilities beyond third-party fund management in public markets. We now have the skills and ability to invest across the capital structure of companies, regardless of whether they are privately owned or publicly listed and irrespective of geographic location or domicile.

We provide unique, differentiated investment opportunities to our fellow investors, or we use our balance sheet to partner with like-minded businesses in financial services.

Beyond our own balance sheet, we have a number of platforms – or pools of capital – through which we make investments. Our capital is invested in these platforms alongside our partners:

  1. The RECM Flexible Value Prescient QIF hedge fund, a South African Qualified Investor Hedge Fund;
  2. Beagle Investments (Pty) Ltd, an unlisted BEE investment company;
  3. RECM and Calibre Ltd, a JSE listed investment holding company;
  4. TipOne Ltd, a BEE Investment Company that is listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange. TipOne focusses on unlocking liquidity for participants in illiquid B-BBEE schemes in South Africa;

Our parent company, Mauritius-based RECM Global Ltd, is also the advisor to Astoria Investments Ltd, a Mauritian based Investment Company with its shares listed on the SEM and the JSE.

Our investment strategy is built on the following principals:

  1. We are generalists, with freedom and flexibility – we can invest in anything, anywhere, anytime.
  2. Focus – we don’t try to be everything to everybody. We have a small number of pools of capital, each with a specific, non-overlapping mandate.
  3. Partnership. To the extent that we are not passive minority investors with a small stake, we partner with management teams that are aligned and capable. We provide oversight and capital allocation discipline.
  4. Business mentality – our ability to compare opportunities across a wide spectrum together with our experience and proximity to ‘running real businesses’ provides unique insights and opportunities.