Listing on the stock market in the teeth of a global pandemic smacks of quiet confidence or naive foolhardiness. In the case of Ninety One, which floated only seven days before Britain went into lockdown, the active fund manager also was operating in an unpopular sector, with intense competition and a customer base moving towards passive investment.
Still, the float was completed successfully — albeit after Ninety One had cut back its issue price to only 135p a share, against its earlier hopes of between 190p and 235p — and the shares have flourished since, gaining more than 50 per cent in slightly more than two months.
Ninety One was founded in South Africa in 1991 and until the flotation on March 16 had
