October 2025 Insights

Dual Citizens

The JSE has faced persistent criticism in recent years, with much of the focus on its shrinking universe and declining liquidity. While new domestic listings remain scarce, there are signs of renewed interest from global companies considering secondary listings on the JSE. One example is Coca-Cola HBC, which is expected to list locally following its proposed acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, a deal that would create the world’s second-largest Coca-Cola bottler. Similarly, French media group Canal+ has announced plans for an inward listing after completing its acquisition of MultiChoice. For the High Street Balanced Prescient Fund, these developments are promising, expanding the range of potential opportunities that align with the Fund’s Rand-hedge investment mandate.

A high angle shot of a passport on a leather suitcase and a geographical map

Secondary listings constitute a substantial portion of the JSE’s total market capitalisation, with notable examples including AB InBev, BHP, British American Tobacco, Prosus, and Richemont. These listings bring several benefits: they increase market depth and credibility, enhance trading activity and liquidity, and offer exposure to industries less common locally, providing broader sector diversification. Additionally, secondary listings can attract foreign capital, as international investors engage with the JSE, supporting the market’s growth and integration with global capital markets.

However, dual listings can distort the JSE’s market capitalisation by including companies whose primary listings and investor bases are largely abroad, giving a misleading picture of the domestic market. This influence can extend to key indices, such as the FTSE/JSE All-Share Index (ALSI), where foreign-dominated companies may disproportionately affect performance and sector weightings, potentially skewing benchmark returns for your typical local fund. This is what led to the creation of shareholder-weighted indices such as the SWIX All Share Index.

For the High Street Balanced Prescient Fund, secondary listings broaden the universe of quality investment opportunities. By targeting rand-hedge companies with established operations in developed markets and revenue earned in hard currencies, the Fund gives investors a way to limit exposure to South Africa-specific operational risks while gaining access to global leaders across diverse industries. In doing so, the Fund provides a retirement solution that goes beyond the domestic market, delivering meaningful offshore diversification and the potential for long-term growth, all while remaining compliant with Regulation 28.

Unless otherwise stated, all performance and statistical figures provided in this article have been pulled from Bloomberg by the High Street Asset Management Research Team on 29 October 2025 and all the images provided in this article have been sourced from FreePik and have been used in line with their Acceptable Use Policy. The contents of our newsletters are frequently sourced from or verified through our various product providers and other third parties. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in the newsletter, it should not be construed as financial advice as defined in the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. Links are provided to third-party websites for convenience only. High Street Asset Management (Pty) Ltd cannot accept responsibility and does not endorse any information contained on a third-party site. For our full disclaimer, please see: https://hsam.co.za/legal/.