Manager Research

Denker Capital recently announced some changes to its investment team. Ricco Friedrich, executive director, founder and portfolio manager on the Denker Global Equity Fund has left the business and relocated to Switzerland.

During the third quarter of 2020, Ricco took over portfolio management responsibilities on the Global Equity Fund from Pierre Marais who retired. Before managing the Global Equity Fund, he managed the Denker Equity Fund (the old SIM Value Fund) alongside Claude van Cuyck. Claude remains the portfolio manager on the Denker Equity Fund.

His resignation is a setback for the business given his experience and deep institutional knowledge of SA listed companies. He is also a founder and material shareholder in Denker. Jacobus Oosthuizen, previously a senior equity analyst on the global equity team has taken over portfolio management responsibilities on the fund from Ricco.

Apart from Ricco’s resignation, Denker has gone through several changes over the last few years. Ongoing outflows means that they’ve had to rationalise their cost base, review their fund range and restructure the business. While they are likely to go through more changes in the foreseeable future, current shareholders, including Sanlam Investments, have indicated that they will continue to support the business through the process. We will continue to monitor their progress through the restructuring process.