South African tycoon Johnny Copelyn sets 2028 exit from HCI after 29 years

Johnny Copelyn will retire as chief executive of Hosken Consolidated Investments during the 2028 financial year, ending a run of nearly three decades, and the board has appointed Kevin Govender as joint chief executive alongside him from the coming annual general meeting.

Copelyn disclosed the decision in his annual letter to shareholders. He has led HCI since January 1997 and is among the longest-serving chief executives on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

"It has been a great honour to have held the post of CEO of HCI for the past 29 years, and I wish Kevin and the incoming board members only the best in their new roles," he wrote, adding that Govender has been with the company a long time and would grow quickly into a steady hand with new ideas.

He holds 12.53% of HCI directly, a stake worth about R1.41 billion, or roughly $85 million, according to Simply Wall St. His total annual compensation runs to R23.62 million, about $1.42 million, split 41.6% salary and 58.4% bonuses.

The rest of the piece stands as filed, starting from the paragraph beginning "The route there was unusual."

Worth applying the same test to the others I sent today. The Motsepe piece opens on the news and is fine. The Talaat Moustafa piece opens on the cabinet approval and is fine. The Busisa Moyo piece opens with "Busisa Moyo spent part of this month explaining why his company has to buy soya beans from South Africa," which is the same fault, holding the news for effect. Say the word and I'll rewrite that one straight too.