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Billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s investment empire is facing a potential shake-up after U.S. insurer Prudential Financial Inc. began weighing a sale of its stake in South African financial-services firm Alexforbes, according to people familiar with the talks.
Prudential has told Alexforbes and African Rainbow Capital, Motsepe’s investment company and the retirement specialist’s largest shareholder, that it is considering an exit, the people said. The deliberations are still at an early stage and no decision has been made.
Prudential acquired its stake in 2022, joining African Rainbow Capital and other institutional investors on the Alexforbes share register. The Newark, New Jersey–based insurer now owns roughly one-third of the Johannesburg-listed company, which has a market value of about 10.7 billion rand ($627 million).
Any move by Prudential would immediately ripple through Motsepe’s portfolio. African Rainbow Capital holds close to half of Alexforbes’ equity, giving it significant influence over strategy at a business that administers pensions, savings and employee benefits for millions of South Africans and regional clients.
People familiar with the discussions say Prudential is exploring options that could include selling its shares to African Rainbow Capital, placing stock with another strategic investor, or pursuing a broader market sale if conditions allow. The parties have not publicly commented, underscoring the sensitivity around a possible reshaping of Alexforbes’ shareholder base.
For Motsepe, 63, the talks come at a time when his African Rainbow group is increasingly active in financial services. Through Ubuntu-Botho Investments and African Rainbow Capital, he has built stakes in insurers, banks, asset managers and telecoms alongside his mining flagship, African Rainbow Minerals.
Alexforbes fits neatly into that strategy. The firm, founded in 1935, is one of South Africa’s most recognizable retirement and investment brands, with operations in Botswana, Namibia and Jersey. Its services range from retirement fund administration and investment consulting to personal financial planning.
If Prudential does sell, African Rainbow Capital could emerge with an even tighter grip on the company — or find itself sharing influence with a new global partner. Either path would matter for Motsepe, whose fortune and clout now span mining, finance and sport.
Motsepe, already well known as president of the Confederation of African Football and owner of Mamelodi Sundowns, has long presented African Rainbow Capital as a vehicle to broaden Black ownership in the South African economy. A bigger role at Alexforbes would deepen that footprint in the country’s savings industry, which manages trillions of rand on behalf of workers and retirees.
Prudential’s review also highlights how foreign investors continue to reassess their South African exposure amid sluggish growth, power shortages and policy uncertainty. For Motsepe, that reassessment may open a window: a chance either to consolidate control at a key financial asset or to negotiate alongside a new international partner on terms that suit African Rainbow Capital’s long-term ambitions.
For now, the billionaire and his team are staying silent in public. The next move will depend on Prudential’s decision — but whatever happens, the outcome will say a great deal about how global capital and South Africa’s most prominent Black industrialist continue to navigate each other.
