The good news is that Bain Capital is not xenophobic when it comes to appointing someone to lead Edcon. The bad news is that the private equity firm might be xenophiliac, meaning it has a love for all things foreign.It's difficult to be rigid , given that Bain Capital is an American entity. So it may be that Bain Capital is demonstrating xenophobic tendencies by its almost obsessive refusal to appoint a South African to the top job at Edcon.story_article_left1The appointment of Australian Bernie Brookes to replace German-born Jurgen Schreiber as Edcon CEO means it has now been 20 years since a South African was appointed to the top job at the country's largest clothing retail group. You have to go back to 1995, when Donald Etheridge was appointed CEO of the then-Edgars.Etheridge was replaced in 1998 by Steve Ross, an American. Etheridge oversaw a grim period in Edgars' history; the country was in turmoil, and management could not rise to the challenge. Ross reversed the slide and made Edgars the investment community's darling. Then came the Bain Capital buyout in 2007.The determination to appoint non-South Africans at Edcon is puzzling, given, with the exception of Ross, their limited success. Schreiber doesn't leave an impressive legacy. French-born Hugues Witvoet was Edgars CEO between 2008 and 2012; the group was weaker when he left it. Witvoet was replaced by German Birgitt Gebauer, who continues to oversee an unhappy and unstable ship.We are operating in a global environment, and it's great to be able to draw on the world's talent. But perhaps it's time to give our great local talent a chance. After all, it is a retail business that relies entirely on South African consumers - and anyway, how much worse can things get?As for Brookes, he arrives with a mixed record. Australian media describe his initial five years as CEO of department store Myers as successful, but things seem to have come apart in the past four years. In March, just weeks after he was edged out at Myers, the board reported a 23% profit slump and a major strategic review.Also this week, Edcon announced it had reached an agreement with some bondholders that would enable it to reduce its gross debt by R3.5-billion and its annual interest burden by R695-million.Moody's described the deal as "an effective default" on the senior unsecured notes involved.story_article_right2Advtech versus CurroWas it the sight of angry parents at this week's Advtech AGM that frightened off PSG and Curro ? It's unlikely that either PSG or Curro would be discouraged by this sort of spectacle, but their main backers, Coronation and Kagiso , might be more sensitive.Although the PSG "barbarians" have moved back from the Advtech gate, they may return.When a board rejects an offer and refuses to refer it to shareholders, as Advtech's board did, it usually means one of two things. The boardsincerely believes the offer is not in the interests of the company and its stakeholders, including parents in this case. Or the board believes the offer poses a threat to its own interests and conflates those with the interests of all stakeholders. It's impossible to ever know the real reason.The parents who pitched up at the Advtech AGM will no doubt be as keen as the rest of us to hear the outcome of the JSE's probe into ex-chairman Jeff Livingstone's purchase of Advtech shares in May before the bid was announced but after talks had commenced.Financial Times and NikkeiThe $1.3-billion Japan's Nikkei paid for The Financial Times represents a price-to-earnings ratio of about 35 times. This is not as steep as the ridiculous levels enjoyed by IT and social media companies, but is encouragingly high given the company is in a sector believed to be in its death throes.The Financial Times is not just any media company. It is an institution. Through considered and hefty investment, it has secured this status despite all the odds.It will be up to Nikkei to ensure the paper is able to hold on to its value. Any signs of a less-robust editorial policy would wreak rapid and irreversible damage...