Anton Rupert is his role model and most of his company's shares are held by individuals who are in there for the long haul

SCORES of busy executives fly across the country in the line of duty every day. But when Roux Marnitz travels, he is usually the one piloting the plane.

The Persetel chairman's great love in life is flying and, from the time he earned his first pay cheque, that is how he has spent most of his free time.

When he does fly his Lear jet for business, he charges his company the price of an economy air ticket and pays the balance himself.

Despite his transport pilot's licence, Marnitz let a British Airways pilot do the work on Sunday as he flew back from Europe, perusing the signed proof of his latest coup.

Persetel had just bought a 70% stake in Germany's Telemation AG for an undisclosed amount. The deal, estimated to be worth between R1,5-billion and R2-billion, is believed to be one of the largest offshore acquisitions yet made by an SA company.

Telemation, the largest independent integrator of Cisco networking products in Europe, has consistently shown earnings improvements of over 35% a year. This growth in Deutchmarks is expected to enhance Persetel's earnings a share by at least 20%.

The deal means that 60% of Persetel's business is now offshore and the figure is likely to jump to about 80% in the next three years.

The acquisition follows several others which helped place Persetel among the best performers on the JSE in 1996. Its share price rocketed almost 400% over the year on its move into electronic commerce, a reshaping of its business and its 80% jump in attributable income in the year to May 1996.

Indeed, Persetel has been flying high ever since Marnitz was lured back in 1994 to the business he had founded 15 years earlier.

As a child, he dreamed of becoming a pilot but landed up in the computer industry after completing a B Sc in electrical engineering. After 10 years with IBM, he decided to go it alone.

His success in breaking into a market dominated by IBM soon attracted Barlows as a major shareholder. Marnitz says: "I am rather proud of the fact that we became the only company in the world that had a larger market share than IBM in mainframes."

In 1992, Marnitz took a "sabbatical" to develop his aviation business which today includes ExecuJet, which charters and sells aircraft, and a company which owns Lanseria Airport.

With the unbundling of Barlows in 1994, Comparex, Persetel's German supplier of Hitachi products, encouraged Barlows to keep Persetel in its fold and Barlows invited Marnitz back. Fittingly, Comparex was Persetel's first foreign acquisition. Both it and Telemation offer much scope for expansion into Europe. Both are debt-free and any further purchases abroad will be funded by their strong cash flows and, if need be, offshore borrowings.

News of the Telemation deal, however, sent Persetel's share price tumbling this week from last week's all-time high of R40.

Marnitz puts this down to profit-taking after the share's recent strong run. The shares issued to facilitate the deal had previously been placed at a price below the peak - R29, according to market talk. This led to fears of further profit-taking and possible oversupply.

However, Marnitz says all these shares have now been taken up by long-term holders.

He cites Anton Rupert as a role model. Indeed, his vision to list Persetel's international business abroad, possibly on the Nasdaq, is not unlike Rupert's moves with Richemont.

When not in the office, he and his wife, Urma, may be found jetting off to watch game somewhere in southern Africa.

This year's New Year's resolutions include going to the gym more often but many other activities, like flying for the South African Air Force, have fallen by the wayside because his business interests are now so time-consuming.

Zilla Efrat

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