It has become apparent that not everyone playing in the black economic empowerment (BEE) arena will make a killing. Many of the deal structures are flawed and have led to disaster.

This may be the reason BEE group Peu has taken care to recruit individuals with investment banking backgrounds (investment banking executive Potlako Mophiring, for example) to protect itself against a common BEE trap - financially unsustainable financing structures.

Peu's high profile should make it easy for Peu to get involved in a string of BEE equity transactions, but the group has chosen to take a cautious approach. It has been involved in only two high-profile BEE deals over the past few years - the Investec deal, worth R810m at the time, and the R1bn deal with Super Group that led to it taking a stake in the firm.

"We maintain a conservative outlook when it comes to deal flow evaluation," says Leonard Bruhns, who spent 15 years in investment banking before joining Peu's executive team. "We see a lot of opportunities, but have been selective in deciding whether to take part."

"We are disciplined entrepreneurs, who will not get ourselves involved in areas of business where we cannot add value," says Peu MD Peter Malungani.

Peu has a long association with Investec, which began before it participated in the financial services group's empowerment deal. "Our relationship with Peu is not only defined by the BEE deal. We had established a working relationship with Peter [Malungani] long before the deal came through," says Investec SA joint MD Andy Leith.

Peu also had a long-standing relationship with Super Group before it landed a 25,1% stake in the listed transport and logistics firm in 2004.