acquiring a competitor to capture growth
expanding organically
restructuring your corporate portfolio for value
disposing of a non-core business unit
raising capital
refinancing existing debt
Corporate performance is maximized when leaders identify and capture value through entering new markets, growing market share, or improving margin through pricing and cost management. Underperforming business units must be re-imagined, closed, or sold and residual overhead costs tackled.
We support with robust unbiased decision-making, underpinned by thorough analysis, to de-risk your next strategic move.
Accelerating growth through acquisition enables expansion beyond what can be achieved organically however, value is quickly eroded through poor transaction rationale, insufficient planning, or inferior execution.
Often overlooked pre-transaction activities include: acquisition strategy definition, target identification, commercial due diligence and merger implementation planning, or sell side preparation in the case of divestment.
Our teams guide you through transaction preparation to ensure success and maximise returns.
When C-suite capacity is stretched or capabilities lack maturity, external support provides the required skills, while building capability to support long-term performance improvement.
We support leadership teams in strategic planning, budgeting & forecasting, treasury management, cost reduction, investment modeling, and more.
M&A requires more than executing a transaction process. A successful acquisition is one where you don't overpay nor reduce the identified merger benefits.
We assist in evaluating your investment rationale and structure your acquisition to maximise the upside potential.
Executing an acquisition strategy is complex and time consuming, easily distracting leadership at the expense of existing business performance.
We manage the acquisition process and service provider universe to ensure co-ordinated delivery and successful execution of your acquisition strategy, without distracting your focus.
The objective of a disposal is to maximise proceeds and exit an investment on the best possible terms. Managing price tension is critical as is ensuring certainty of a timeous closing.
We manage the bidders, maintain competitive price tension and negotiate the best exit.
We have executed on over $12bn of international and domestic transactions.
An optimal capital structure delivers the lowest cost of capital, essential to maximising corporate performance. Do you need to increase operating flexibility, improve debt covenants, enhance liquidity, negotiate a restructuring, raise new debt or equity capital?
We identify the right balance of equity, mezzanine finance, and senior debt while guiding you through implementation.
We have deep relationships with all major capital and debt providers. We deliver the desired outcome.
Truly knowledgeable project finance advisors are a rare breed in Africa.
Having in depth international, regional and domestic experience is unique.
Our team has advised clients and sourced funding across 20 countries in Africa, in sectors including energy, mining, water and transport
While the number one priority of any corporate decision-maker should always be to maximise shareholder value, navigating the complexity of multi-variate decisions is often more onerous than the execution.
With our decision support, the best teams take comfort that their decisions maximise value and have the analytical underpin to stand up to scrutiny.
Should you require an independent expert valuation, please visit Aldwych .
Leaders know when the tide has turned against them. Acknowledging the challenge at hand and timely partnering with the right advisor differentiates winners from losers.
We rapidly assess the situation and formulate a recovery plan, then guide you through the challenging task of implementation.
Time is of the essence. Act decisively.
In adversity, gearing works against you – very quickly.
Managing your lenders is key to long-term survival however, companies seldom manage these relationships well. With our coaching and guidance, you avoid pitfalls and together we systematically lay the foundation for a successful debt restructure at the opportune time.
We have deep relationships with all major lenders and facilitate open and frank communication. Establishing trust with your lenders is critical to a successful recovery on terms that are achievable.
Leverage the focus and urgency necessitated by restructuring to implement bold decisions.
We help clients restructure the corporate portfolio for value (acting where necessary to augment or streamline) and address capital structure inefficiencies.
The #1 mistake in M&A during restructuring or distress is applying a traditional M&A approach (and appointing your usual advisor).
We have successfully executed large-scale divestments under conditions of severe distress.
Experienced private equity investors know that an active approach to ownership increase returns. This requires assisting portfolio companies with the design and implementation of operational and strategic interventions that generate sustained revenue and earnings growth.
Few investors have the capacity to develop a value plan during the transaction phase and to start execution immediately post close. Similar constraints limit the ability to support portfolio companies during the investment lifetime.
We have the skills and experience to realise you value unlock ambition.
We serve clients across the full suite of transaction services spanning pre-transaction to post-close.
We have executed on over $12bn of domestic and international transactions.
We help lender groups, bondholders and other investors evaluate restructuring alternatives and take informed decisions when borrowers experience difficulties in servicing their commitments, typically involving:
Independent review
Business review focussed on forward looking prospects rather than an analysis of historic performance
Stabilisation assistance
Review of short-term cash flow projections and analysis of cash conservation efforts and controls
Root cause analysis
Evaluation of the causes of the company’s problems, the business plan and financial projections, including an assessment of risks and opportunities
Financial restructuring
Advice and support on negotiating and implementing a financial restructuring agreement
Monitoring & reporting
Performance monitoring pre and post financial restructuring
David is registered as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa with over 25 years of local and international experience providing Corporate Finance and Transaction Advisory services to both the private and public sectors.
David’s extensive experience has covered mergers and acquisitions, capital structure and financing advisory, disposals, leveraged buyouts, capital raisings, transaction restructurings, and due diligence investigations. He has acted as an advisor to several major banks on restructuring underperforming assets and valuations.
David was also a faculty member of the Department of Accounting at the University of Cape Town.
Hennie is an experienced corporate strategy and transaction advisor.
He has advised several major banks on restructuring underperforming assets. His experience includes mergers and acquisitions, disposals, capital raisings and due diligence investigations.
Previously, as a corporate strategy consultant with a major global consultancy he advised multinational corporates on various aspects of corporate strategy including business transformation and mergers & acquisitions.
Hennie was also an equity market asset manager.
Faheem is an admitted attorney with experience in a variety of areas of law, focusing commercial law.
He specializes in corporate commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, cross-border transactions, corporate restructuring and corporate governance. Faheem has also worked in mergers and acquisitions at one of the big 4 audit firms.
Faheem has advised both local and international clients, from state institutions and multinational corporations to High Net Worth Individuals and family offices in a variety of transactional, regulatory and litigious matters across Africa, Europe, Far-east Asia and the Middle East.
Adrian is a registered Chartered Accountant in South Africa.
He is a financial modelling specialist and and builds complex valuation and FP&A models for multitude of clients across Europe, Asia and Africa.
His modelling is relied upon in corporate finance, transaction advisory and restructurings.
During his time as an auditor with KPMG he focussed on corporate finance and computer audit.
Willie brings 4 decades of energy and infrastructure sector experience with extensive experience in strategy formulation, leadership guidance, operational improvement and executive mentoring, and specific skills in project development to financial close.
His exposure to infrastructure, mining, energy and oil and gas EPC, EPCM, Design and Construct projects throughout Africa adds to experience in guiding companies through a process of risk mitigation and best practices.
Willie Zeelie is a member of the Engineering Council South Africa (ECSA), as well as a member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (MSAIEE) and institute of Directors (IOD).
Jonathan brings more than 30 years of experience in investment banking focused on energy, infrastructure and resources projects, mostly in emerging markets and is recognised as one of the leading project finance bankers in Africa.
He maintains a keen interest in local currency debt market development across Africa, having advised on or arranged significant issues in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
He holds a BA (Hons) in Modern History from Oxford University, and upon graduation completed the 3-year Barclays Management Development Programme, including Chartered Institute of Bankers Examinations in Economics, Law and Accounting.
Alan is an Independent Restructuring Professional and board member, who has consistently achieved measurable results in difficult circumstances over more than 30 years, working with boards and management teams through challenging periods on large and complex restructurings, public and private, in the UK and internationally, involving up to R12 billion of debt.
He is typically engaged as a senior executive, independent director, NED or board adviser.
Alan has a consensual and collaborative leadership style – hands-on when required – and well-developed commercial perspectives. He has considerable expertise in governance and stakeholder management, as well as the operational issues that impact on restructurings.
He has very broad sector experiences and is an expert in multiple sectors, most notably public infrastructure, law firms, logistics, healthcare, IT, consumer financial services, natural resources and manufacturing.
Alan is well regarded in the London financial market in and is a founder member of the London Restructuring Network.
