A plunge from Cadiz into icy territory

19 April 2015 - 02:00 By BRENDAN PEACOCK

New beginnings can be daunting, but few can match the tale former Cadiz Holdings CEO Ram Barkai has to tell. In his early 50s, Barkai plunged into a whole new way of life after ending his stint as executive from 2005 to 2012.He now heads up Ice Investment Holdings, an obscure name until you consider that Barkai is also the instigator of the International Ice Swimming Association."I left Cadiz in 2012, and tried to set up a few initiatives. Ice is my other passion in the swimming world so I brand everything I do with ice. Due to personal circumstances, my divorce, my business plans and ambitions were placed on ice."Barkai says he joined Cadiz when it was established and played a key role in its success."Cadiz was a family-owned business, and I remember Clem Sunter telling me once that a family-controlled business is either a key strength or a key weakness. In Cadiz, it turned out to be a key weakness ... mixing family and business can be a serious challenge."He doesn't mince his words about his exit. "I am glad I left Cadiz. I had some great times there with some great people, but I wanted to grow it, and not to shrink it as the board and some shareholders wanted. I am not happy how it turned out, but I anticipated it."I was hoping the share price would grow to support my retirement but that never happened, so we have to reinvent ourselves. That's OK, it is not the first time."Cadiz co-founder Frank Cadiz, who began the company with his brother, stepped down earlier this year when local investment company Blackstar began a gradual buyout of 12% of Cadiz shares and applied pressure to change the leadership of the underperforming asset management unit.Blackstar has a majority stake in Times Media, which publishes the Sunday Times.At the end of 2014, two Cadiz directors resigned while three Blackstar Group representatives were voted to the Cadiz board and Blackstar's Brian Wootton took over from Frank Cadiz at the end of March.This came after a poor previous six-month reporting period for Cadiz, which had posted a headline loss of R22.5-million and was forced to write off about R200-million in goodwill and investments. Assets under management also fell sharply.Barkai was in charge of the company through the 2008 global financial crash. "Those were scary days - and I don't get scared easily. I am 'lucky' to have seen a crisis before."He says the biggest concern was liquidity. "That's the main thing that can sink you without any rope in times of crisis. I set up an additional liquidity lifeline as soon as possible. The tough part was, where do you keep your cash reserves? We forget, but big banks were falling apart one by one."We tried to diversify our cash holdings and be as liquid as possible. I still think it was a moment of truth, but we forget easily and move on. It will happen again."Barkai says the investment sector changed because of technological advances, and warns of other pitfalls."The 'greed' race to deliver better results than the average is a very dangerous game. As a semiretired businessman, I would be happy with very average, consistent returns."He says the industry no longer looks like a place of inexplicable magic."I see it as a supermarket. I am looking for cheap prices, transparency of process, quality and costs and, most of all, quality of service. It's like the car industry: most of the world wants value for money and reliability of after-sales service."Barkai says most fund managers are average over time. "There are the very few Ferraris or Lamborghinis, 99.9% are Toyotas or VWs."Diving into warmth of family and coolth of a chilly sportAfter leaving Cadiz Holdings, Barkai decided to invest himself in his children and swimming."I remembered that spending more time with family and kids was on the top of the list of every retired person. I am still young and I truly enjoy being more and more involved with my kids."They are growing up fast, they are people, not children, and I am looking forward to spending time with them, just being there for them."Swimming - that's a whole book on its own. I am busy, but in a healthy way. I have time for my kids, my sport, and I have time to focus on the things I love rather than spend my day in endless useless meetings."The swimming he speaks of is no ordinary dip in the pool."I started swimming in cold water when I returned to South Africa in 1996. It was a fight-or-flight case. I fought. I got attracted to the cold and then the ice. It still fascinates me, its crispness, simplicity and deadly beauty."After a couple of ice swims in Antarctica and Europe, he says, he realised there were many legends and stories out there but very few facts."I decided to form IISA [the International Ice Swimming Association] in 2009 to create a body that regulates all adventure swims in the ice. I approached it very scientifically, and formed IISA with the help of my crazy swimming mates."The association now has ice swimmers from 23 countries. The first Ice Swimming World Championship took place in Murmansk, Arctic Russia, last month."We had 50 swimmers competing in the 1km race in water temperature of 0°C, air at -4°C and snowing. It was like a mini-Winter Olympic Games," says Barkai.Competitors from 20 countries took part, including the South African team of Ryan Stramrood, Kieron Palframan, Zani Müller, David Taitz and Barkai . They scored one gold, two silvers and a bronze. Read the full story in the Sunday Times..

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.