The faster they grow, the harder they fall. No South African IT group illustrates this New Economy version of the adage better than Datatec – a one-time member of the JSE Securities Exchange`s ALSI-40 that was last year relegated to the status of a small-cap share.

After listing in the mid-1990s, the high-flying group grew from a R36 million-a-year US Robotics distributor into one of South Africa`s most global IT groups with annual turnover of more than R20 billion.

Its shrewd CEO, Jens Montanana, guided the group down a risky acquisition trail, buying up offshore businesses and Internet companies, and then disposing of those that no longer suited his strategy. As Datatec`s status as both a hot high-tech company and a rand hedge grew, its valuation sky-rocketed.