M Capital

"
Established in 2004, M Capital is a South African-based private equity firm focused exclusively on the property sector in Southern Africa.

M Capital is considered unique for the following reasons:

• M Capital focuses exclusively on the property sector in Southern Africa,
• The investment by M Capital is project-specific, not company-specific (thus drawing on the vast property and banking experience of the firm’s Investment Committee to thoroughly evaluate and understand the underlying asset prior to committing to the investment),
• M Capital operates in a niche range of between ZAR2,0 million and ZAR20,0 million per investment enabling the firm to provide a rapid turnaround time, and
• M Capital generally prefers to get involved in transactions with shorter loan periods (3 months to 18 months maximum)...."

http://www.mcap.co.za/html/about.asp

Mezzanine Partners

"Mezzanine Partners (Pty) Ltd (“Mezzanine Partners”) is South Africa’s leading independent source of mezzanine capital. We manage closed-end mezzanine debt funds dedicated to providing equity sponsors and management teams in southern Africa with tailor-made term financing solutions that meet their intermediate capital funding requirements.

Typically our mezzanine investments fall into the following transaction categories: leveraged or management buyouts, recapitalizations, middle- to late-stage expansion or growth investments, acquisition finance, black economic empowerment transaction financings and special situations.

Mezzanine Partners analyses the investment merits of each potential investment opportunity whilst simultaneously carrying-on a process of consultation with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the financial instrument used is suitably tailored to meet the specific requirements of the relevant transaction.

In identifying suitable investment opportunities, Mezzanine Partners looks for investees that exhibit a preponderance of the following features:

• Are market-leaders in their chosen areas of operation, and from a size perspective typically mid- or large cap companies;
• Have a track-record of stable, non-cyclical financial performance, incorporating the following elements:
  
  
• Strong earnings and revenue growth;
• Sustainable margins;
• Unique or proprietary products, services or processes which provide the business with a sustainable competitive advantage in clearly defined market segments;
• Generate sustainable and sufficient free cash flow after working and fixed capital expenditures;
• Boast experienced and superior management teams;
• Are backed by committed and experienced equity sponsors;
• Have a management team with a significant equity interest in the business.

Mezzanine Partners’ commitment to managing a diversified investment portfolio means that the investment opportunities which it targets could operate across a broad spectrum of industries.

Mezzanine Partners will typically not invest in:

• Turnaround situations;
• Start-up or early stage investment opportunities;
• Real estate transactions;
• Opportunities considered too small within the context of the strategic objectives of the funds under Mezzanine Partners’ management.

http://www.mezzpartners.com/index.html

Treacle Private Equity

"Treacle provides equity capital to mid-market private and small cap listed companies in Southern Africa. We partner management and owners to structure and fund the following types of transactions:

• Management buy-outs
• Growth, expansion and acquisition finance
• Recapitalisation and restructuring of balance sheets
• Development capital for emerging companies
• Replacement of shareholders
• Black Economic Empowerment transactions

After investing, Treacle focusses on delivering a superior service to our investments by providing ongoing strategic marketing input, general business guidance, financial and structuring advice, access to an extensive business network and assistance with employment equity implementation...."

 http://www.treacle.co.za/

Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association

 

 "SAVCA’s objectives

The main objectives of the Association are to:

• Promote the venture capital and private equity profession in Southern Africa
• Represent the profession at the national and international level
• Develop and stimulate professional and transactional venture capital and private equity investments throughout Southern Africa
• Stimulate the expansion of venture capital and private equity throughout Southern Africa
• Collect information from markets and from members
• Circulate information to members and the outside world
• Stimulate and maintain contacts within the membership
• Contribute to the management development of investors and investees
• Provide the relevant authorities with proposals for improvement in the corporate, fiscal and legal environment for venture capital and private equity in Southern Africa
• Maintain ethical and professional standards

SAVCA intends playing a meaningful role in the Venture Capital and Private Equity Industry by:

• Promoting self-regulation
• Lobbying on behalf of industry
• Disseminating information and publicity
• Arranging training for the staff of its members
• Researching the industry in South Africa..."

http://www.savca.co.za/ 

 
 

Forbes Coal

"Forbes Coal is a high quality thermal and metallurgical coal producer with operations in South Africa

The two operating mines, Magdelena and Aviemore, have substantial coal resources. The Company is able to organically increase production at minimal cost while capitalizing on increasing demand from both domestic and export markets. 

Forbes Coal is continually evaluating acquisition opportunities of high quality coal projects and thermal coal projects in southern Africa and beyond.

The Company is headquartered in Toronto, ON, Canada."

http://www.forbescoal.com/

Knife Capital

"KnifeCap is a Southern African growth equity fund manager focusing on technology-enabled ventures for a sustainable impact on innovation, job creation and growth.

What we do

HBD VENTURE CAPITAL KnifeCap manages HBD Venture Capital's South African portfolio of investments. HBD VC is a South African Venture Capital Fund founded by Mark Shuttleworth in 2000. HBD (an acronym for "Here Be Dragons" - a term used in ancient times to mark unchartered territories on maps) offered growth capital to a range of early stage businesses. The fund is now fully invested and its current focus is on growing its investments to achieve successful exits.

KNIFE CAPITAL GROWTH EQUITY FUND KnifeCap is currently in the process of raising a Growth Equity Fund with first closing of between R100m and R150m. The investment targets in need of expansion capital will have existing revenue flow and a verifiable customer base, matched by significant market potential. Investment size will range between R10m and R30m per first round investment. For more information on participating as a Limited Partner contact us.

KNIFE KNOWLEDGE KnifeCap provides consulting, training and business acceleration services to high-growth early-stage ventures in Southern Africa. We are committed to creating African success stories and filling critical gaps in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. The team is deeply involved in skills-, technology- and knowledge transfer initiatives to groom skilled entrepreneurs as the future leadership class of Africa – a new generation of role models.

FIND-MAKE-GROW-REALISE KnifeCap partnered with the UCT Graduate School of Business to present an Executive Education Programme:
Find - Make - Grow - Realise: Investing in early-stage growth companies. This participative, case-study-driven course is designed to provide investors and entrepreneurs with a deep understanding of the high-growth investment process and is presented periodically in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

GRINDSTONE ACCELERATOR The Grindstone Accelerator is a new structured acceleration initiative that will assist 50 high-growth technology-enabled companies to become sustainable and fundable. This will be done via a range of services designed to build a foundation for growth, create relevant business networks and enable these companies to take advantage of market access opportunities.
For more information or to apply for the programme, click here

BIZSPARK The KnifeCap/ BizSpark programme is a collaboration with Microsoft where we aim to assist local startups through the provision of a growth gap analysis, development tools and business support. To qualify for BizSpark in SA, a startup must be developing software or apps; be privately held; generating less than R5 million in annual revenue; and be less than 5 years old. Start your application process here."

http://www.knifecap.com/index.php