Benchmark International is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Fastway Couriers’ National Master (Fastway South Africa), Fastway Johannesburg, and Fastpost businesses by City Logistics (Pty) Ltd in partnership with Clearwater Capital (Pty) Ltd.

Benchmark International is proud to be a part of the 2019 OCFO Founders Conference, taking place on November 7th at the Ideas Cartel in Cape Town, South Africa, during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The conference aims to bring together the top business people, investors and entrepreneurs in South Africa for an evening of meaningful networking, learning and inspiration.

As part of the event, Dustin Graham, Managing Partner of Transactions for Benchmark International's South Africa offices will be speaking on the topic of preparing one's business to go to market and extracting its true value.

We wish the hosts and attendees well during the event.

Benchmark International’s South African office has experienced a sharp increase in deal flow and activity. The company reports having received 51% more non-disclosure agreements from interested parties and a 71% increase in the number of offers received for client businesses than in the corresponding period last year.

The volume of transactions concluded by Benchmark’s South African office confirms the positive trend identified in the recently published Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor, which relies on early-stage transaction forecasts compiled from data on M&A due diligence activity in virtual data rooms. The predictive models for the second half of 2019 suggested an increase in the number of deals to be announced in the order of 5% for the EMEA region.

Benchmark International—demonstrating this trend—is pleased to have facilitated the following transactions in recent weeks:

1. The investment by way of share subscription in Shift South (Pty) Ltd, trading as SweepSouth, by MIH Holdings, trading as Naspers Foundry
   
   
2. The sale of a majority interest in Counterpoint Trading 439 (Pty) Ltd to Shave and Gibson Packaging (Pty) Ltd
   
   
3. The merger of two undisclosed prominent e-commerce companies
   
   
4. The disposal of Groupline Projects (Pty) Ltd by Wonderstone Ltd who are in turn owned by the JSE listed group Assore Ltd to Mokoena Holdings (Pty) Ltd
   
   
5. The sale of Muffin Mate Coastal (Pty) Ltd to Ekuzeni Supplies (Pty) Ltd
   
   
6. The sale of Jordan Human Resources to Vinton Holdings (Pty) Ltd
   
   
7. The sale of an undisclosed mining equipment manufacturer to an undisclosed Canadian equipment supplier
   
   
8. The acquisition of Ciba Packaging (Pty) Ltd’s non-core flexible food assets by Lampac CC, trading as Packaging World
   
   
9. The sale of Nology (Pty) Ltd and Nology Distribution (Pty) Ltd to a multinational technology holding company

Commenting on the transactions, Andre Bresler, Managing Partner at Benchmark International’s South African office, remarked, “The range of transactions is a testament to the maturing M&A landscape in South Africa as well as the depth of the Benchmark team as these nine deals represent a very broad spectrum of M&A activity—from a capital raise to a merger and both partial and full disposals. There are private equity and trade-buyer deals, cross-border and domestic transactions, an acquisition, and even the disposal of a non-core asset of a listed entity. It’s certainly an exciting time for M&A in South Africa with no significant slow-down expected; we anticipate a number of additional transactions to finalize in the last quarter too.”

Benchmark International's Dustin Graham, Managing Director of the Cape Town and Johannesburg offices in South Africa, was interviewed by Business Day TV. The "How to Value Your Business" discussion can be viewed here: 

Business Day TV is broadcast on Channel 412 on DStv and is available to over 10-million viewers in 9 countries across Southern Africa. It is one of three TV stations owned by The African Business Channel.

ABC is owned by SA’s leading financial publisher BDFM, publisher of Business Day and Financial Mail. BDFM in turn is owned by the Times Media Group, one of SA’s largest media houses. One of Business Day TV’s strengths is its access to content from this extensive network.

The Benchmark South African Office has experienced extraordinary growth in the ten months following the company’s investment in Cape Town in response to demand to grow the African operations. The team is therefore proud to announce the opening of its Johannesburg office, the largest city in South Africa and one of the 50 largest urban areas globally.

Strategically, this expansion positions the company’s additional operations near the heart of the country’s wealthiest province, a full three months ahead of schedule. The early establishment of an office in this node was a decision necessitated by the level of activity Benchmark is engaged in with clients and buyers alike, and demonstrates the company’s continued
commitment and growing presence on the continent.

As a country, and in the context of Emerging Markets, South Africa has unparalleled potential as a destination for direct investment and features as one of the most dynamic and rewarding emerging market economies across the globe. As an M&A target region South Africa was recently ranked as the 28th most attractive destination for inbound M&A transactions globally. (According to Zephyr, a product of Bureau van Dijk).

Benchmark International’s Johannesburg office is headed up by Johann Haasbroek who, having worked with many of the current Benchmark team in the past, has extensive M&A, Corporate Finance and Banking experience.