Governments borrow to fund their fiscal deficit, that is any shortfall from their tax revenue received relative to their expenditure incurred, primarily by issuing debt securities to the private sector. These sovereign bonds have a variety of terms to maturity, from months ahead to many decades into the future, and may have interest rates that are fixed, floating or linked to a fixed real rate over future realised inflation.

The value in Naspers now consists almost exclusively of its holding in Amsterdam-listed Prosus. Prosus holds a large stake in Tencent - a Chinese online media giant - and a variety of online businesses (the rump). Over the past decade, the group has made a number of investments across emerging markets in online businesses, with very little success to date, incurring substantial cumulative losses.

With a history spanning the last century, Santam (the South African National Trust and Assurance Company) has weathered many storms and remains South Africa’s leading short-term insurance business. Its massive success stems from strategic adaptability and remarkable operational execution in evolving its client-centered service offering that caters for individuals, business owners and institutions. We unpack Santam’s history, the business and its strong market position today.

Exxaro is a highly cash-generative low-cost coal miner, with quality iron ore mining assets and a growing renewable energy business. It faces unique challenges as a large supplier to troubled Eskom and as the world moves away from using its carbon-emitting primary product in the long term. We set out Exxaro’s medium-term prospects and how they aim to use a portion of cash flow to transform the business in the future.