January 17, 2006
By Tammy O'Reilly
MOSILO Mothepu's job is to ensure that there is a continual dialogue between the City and its investors, credit agencies, guarantors and other market participants to help them make investment decisions. And, judging by her poise and eloquence, one can tell that making a good impression is her strong point.
As head of investor relations in the treasury since November 2005, her mandate is to make sure that there is a sustainable and favourable relationship between the City and its all-important investors.
She also has to ensure that the financial community is kept abreast of the City's financial status, changes in credit ratings, bond issues and any management changes.
"The financial community is demanding more information from corporate issuers," she says. "It is our responsibility that the City responds to such information requests, for accountability, transparency and good corporate governance practices."
The 27-year-old Lesotho lass says working for the municipality is a great opportunity to challenge and change investor sentiment about Joburg and to increase the City's visibility within the financial community, with the ultimate goal of reducing the cost of borrowing.
She has an honours degree in finance and a bachelor of commerce degree from Wits University. Mothepu has worked at Investec, Nedbank Corporate Bank and Aloecap, where she dealt with restructuring the finances of public sector organisations and exploring the financial viability of municipalities.
"In previous jobs I was on the other side of the table. Here that just puts me in a position of strength and enables me to take into account an investor's perspective in the work that I do."
Its investor relations unit is a new addition to the City and Mothepu is currently a one-man team. However, over the next few months two other staff members will be appointed.
"I am what you call the middleman, between investors and the City, within the treasury department," she says. "The City of Johannesburg deals with numerous highly important investors, asset managers and institutional fund managers who have invested billions of rands into the City, so it is only natural that the City in turn makes sure that they are aware of what's happening in the council at any given time."
Mothepu has to be on the ball regarding the events and developments the City council undertakes, and keep an eye out for any media coverage that may show the City in a negative light.
Joburg was the first municipality under the Municipal Financial Management Act to list a bond on the Bond Exchange of South Africa. It launched the Domestic Medium Term Note Programme in 2005, and it hopes to raise R6-billion over the next five years to finance infrastructure development.
In the past two years Johannesburg has issued three bonds – two for R1-billion each and one for R700-million. Its investors include Rand Merchant Bank, Coronation Fund Managers, Investec, Liberty and Metropolitan, to name a few.
"That's a lot of money for any institution. As the City, we need to constantly satisfy our investors, meaning that throughout the year we need to make sure that we take care of them the way they are taking care of us," Mothepu explains.
"When sustainable relationships and confidence is built, it's easier for the City to re-enter the debt capital markets. We can't just one day knock on an investor's door and say, 'Can we have a billion rand please?'"
Part of building these relationships entails issuing investors with interim and final audited financial results, doing road shows for new bond issues, increasing the visibility of the City through positive marketing and hosting events like golf days and results breakfasts.
Mothepu has plans to launch an investor relations website with pertinent information on Joburg for investors. She boldly says that she can tackle any challenges that come her way, yet acknowledges that she will have to prove herself.
"I'm a Pisces; I am very passionate and driven. I consider it an advantage that this unit is new; the position will be as big or small as I make it. There is no historical benchmark, so now I have the ideal opportunity to create that benchmark that will be of a higher standard than [that of] my peers."
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