Of all investments and events that dominated South African business headlines none stood out like the 2010 World Cup.

Some pessimists thought the country would not be ready to deliver the best tournament ever, but they were proved wrong.

Noah Greenhill, senior general manager of marketing and business development at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, said the World Cup was good for South Africa.

“Before to the World Cup, we were lucky to have that positive sentiment driving investors and enthusiasm into the JSE. We ran an unbelievable World Cup,” Greenhill said.

“It opened the eyes of the world to the fact that this is a beautiful country.”

Greenhill said there were some parts of the world that had “wrong perceptions about crime in South Africa and our hospitality, but now they know where they are investing their money”.

He said the World Cup strengthened the positive sentiments about South Africa and will go a long way to boosting the economy.

One of the highlights of year was the listing of the Royal Bafokeng Platinum last month.

It listed in the platinum and precious metals sector and will trade under this abbreviation, with its share code being RBP.

Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi of the Bafokeng nation witnessed the listing.

RBPlat was created from the restructuring of the Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine joint venture between Royal Bafokeng Holdings and Anglo Platinum, of which Rustenburg Platinum Mines is a wholly owned subsidiary.

RBPlat is owned by a community of about 300000 Bafokeng people. Its mining operations are based in North West in the Bushveld Complex, which is the richest source of platinum group metals in the world.

The entire issued share capital of the company was listed on the JSE. The shares were priced at R60,50 a share, raising R2,98billion – which makes up a stake of 30percent in the company.

Business support service firm Mvelaserve also made their debut on the JSE’s main board last month at R14,50 a share. Mvela Group shareholders were offered 25,03 Mvelaserve shares for every 100 shares in the parent.

The last big listing was that of dairy company Clover early this month.

Clover opened with its first trade at R10,76 a share, giving it a market capitalisation of more than R1,8billion.

The ordinary shares and preference shares of the company are listed in the Food Producers and Preference share sectors of the Main Board, with the share code CLR and CLRP, respectively.

Clover has been operating since 1898 and has enjoyed a long and successful history as part of the development of South Africa’s dairy and fast moving consumer industry.

IT billionaire Robert Gumede partnered with Ivor Ichukowitz to buy a 49,9percent stake of the Golden Lions rugby outfit.

No comments have been added.