A S JOHAN GMS
Jayke : Dr. Johan. How should I address you? Would you like me to stay with the full enchilada of Dr. A S Johan or may I just call you ASJ?
ASJ : Oh! Ah! ASJ is fine. Anyway, all my friends call me ASJ. I assume you are a friend too. So why not?
Jayke : That’s great thanks. A lot easier on the tongue as well. ASJ you’ve created quite a stir with your articles. Was that intended?
ASJ : No. Certainly not. I had been inundated with press reports and stories about recent successful public offerings of shares in Hedge Fund and Private Equity Management companies. I thought it may be useful for the industry and general public, particularly the average investor in the stock markets, to read an unbiased opinion of the phenomenon.
Jayke : I see. What, may I ask, qualifies you to analyze and comment on the ‘phenomenon’
ASJ : Ha! Ha!. Well, Jayke, you’ll agree that I too am a member of the general public and was a recipient of all the news about these IPOs. As such, I believe I am entitled and in a way qualified to comment on them. I don’t expect everyone to agree one hundred percent with my analysis but my conscience is free that my comments are sound and unbiased.
Jayke : Oh ASJ, you are far too modest. From what I have learnt, you’re more than qualified to comment. I understand that you provide strategic consulting services on Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Venture Capital to some very influential people in Asia and the Middle East. In fact, you help establish Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds for them and even provide advise on their effective management. Am I right or am I right?
ASJ : Well Jayke, yes I do, but you know what they say about consultants. All unemployed knowledge workers eventually become consultants.
Jayke : No. I’m afraid I haven’t heard that one before. But it’s interesting. I wonder if it applies to us Journalists as well.
ASJ : Not really. Journalists have a pretty accepted position in our society. They’re the people who don’t’ need to be experts in any field but have the power to write authoritative reports about them. Power without accountability. Isn’t that what they say? Freedom of the press I guess.
Jayke : Point taken. But freedom of the press is, I would assert, a very necessary facet of a truly free society. Not all of us abuse the so called power we’re supposed to have. In fact, considering the large number of us around, surprisingly few have actually abused it. But hey! This is not about journalists or me. It’s about you and your article.
ASJ : You’re right Jayke. I’m sorry to take you off the subject. What would you like to know about my articles?
Jayke : Well, for starters, why are you so against hedge funds and private equity funds and the management companies offering their shares to the general public through IPOs?
ASJ : Jayke, I’m not at all against them. I fully support their existence. In an economy that has embraced a capitalistic, free market system, I believe any business has the right to raise capital or sell its shares through any legal means available. So, in that sense, hedge fund or private equity management companies, like any other business, have every right to raise capital from the capital markets so long as it’s done within the legal constraints in place so that investors can make informed decisions. I am sure that the recent HF and PE management company share offering have indeed done that.
Jake : OK. I’ll refer to one of your recent articles, entitled Why are Profitable Hedge Fund and Private Equity Management Companies being sold off to the public now? The title is framed as a question and seems to me to suggest that there may have somehow been a hidden agenda to the IPOs. Would you care to comment?
As space is limited fhere for the full text of the interview, please email me at jaykeumarezz@
Photo:
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