Work where others spend their holidays: this could spring to mind when thinking of South Africa as a roadshow destination. It can be worthwhile, however, to consider roadshows off the usual trails in Europe and North America.

Every year, millions of tourists visit the country at the southern tip of the African continent. The interests of most attendees focused on the beautiful sections of the coast, the wine-growing districts and of course the fascinating wildlife parks. The country is preparing for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Investments in transport and infrastructure can be seen everywhere. The economic upturn of the past three years have been the strongest that South Africa has enjoyed in last 25 years and at the same time the longest since World War II. In 2006, the resource-rich country saw GNP of +5%, inflation of 5% and unemployment of over 20%.

Johannesburg and Cape Town - the New York and Boston of South Africa

South Africa has three financial centres: Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The top ten investment companies manage around €50 billion combined. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (the FTSE/JSE All Share Index climbed 16% in 2007) is Africa’s largest stock exchange and one of the most important in the world. It is in the Sandton district where most of the country’s banks and financial service providers are headquartered. As with roadshows in New York or Paris, companies here can meet investors in their offices or at the conference rooms in hotels and banks. Cape Town, where the large investment companies are located a maximum of 15 minutes from the town centre, is a central place for meetings, making it convenient for all involved. The best months for trips to South Africa are October/November and February/March. December, January and April do not come into consideration because of the holiday season.

There are flights departing from Germany in the evening and arrive in Johannesburg or Cape Town after a 10 to 12-hour flight. There is no annoying jetlag because South Africa is in the same time zone as Germany. A return flight can also be taken in the evening so that you have the whole of the next day available when your flight arrives early in the morning.

Local partners help with organisation

Deutsche EuroShop’s roadshow in February 2007 was organised by Nedbank, one of the country’s largest banks. We presented our company to over 50 investors at two group presentations in Johannesburg and Cape Town. We expanded our presentations to include general data on the property market and retail in Germany to provide investors with an introduction to the topic. It helped that a company in our peer group has a second listing in Johannesburg after London and that South African investors hold 45% of the shares.

It is mostly multinationals with business connections to the country that present themselves in South Africa. This is not the case for Deutsche EuroShop, yet the roadshow was still a success: more than 5% of the Deutsche EuroShop shares are now in South African ownership.