Vantage Capital - IC Members

Investment Committee Member - Thomas Schwartz

Thomas Schwartz reviews all the mezzanine investment proposals that the Vantage Mezzanine Fund II investment team originates and structures.

Thomas has more than 26 years of experience in the Venture Capital, Private Equity and Mezzanine. He is currently an advisor to Sal. Oppenheim Private Equity Partners GmbH, the private equity division of the leading German private bank, Sal. Oppenheim that was recently bought by Deutsche Bank. Previously, he was a co-founder and partner of VCM Capital Management GmbH, which was sold to Sal. Oppenheim in 2007.

Thomas was instrumental in creating VCM's first mezzanine fund of funds in 2003/2004. He was heavily involved in raising the money from both private and institutional clients and in selecting mezzanine funds. Thomas was also a member of various advisory boards of international mezzanine funds.

Until 1991, his responsibilities as partner and head of the venture capital department of the Matuschka Group covered numerous venture capital programs in the US and Asia. Prior to 1984, his career also included a position at the Bayerische Vereinsbank where he was head of the international credit department.

Thomas is a lawyer by training.

Chairman of VM Fund II Investment Committee – Arthur Arnold

Arthur has more than 40 years experience in Commercial, Investment and Development Banking. He started his career in 1968 at ABN AMRO and over the 24 year period he held several senior management positions in Africa, Iran, Italy, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In 1992 Arthur joined the Rabobank Group where he progressed from Director of Financial Markets to Chairman of the Management Board of Rabobank International, and Director of Strategic Alliances and Communications.

Following that, in 2000, Arthur was appointed President & CEO of the World Council of Credit Unions, Inc. (WOCCU), working out of Washington/Madison, in the U.S.

In early 2005, Arthur was subsequently appointed as Chief Executive Officer of FMO. Under his stewardship, FMO's overall investment portfolio and annual production of new investments increased significantly, and the Capital base of FMO grew from EU800m to EU1,2bn from retained earnings. In addition to this, under Arthur's guidance, FMO obtained the Banking license from the Dutch Central Bank (DNB).

Arthur resigned as CEO of FMO at the end of 2008 and now serves as an Independent Director/Advisor for several financial institutions and investment funds in Africa.

Arthur studied at Erasmus University, INSEAD and the Harvard Business School.

Investment Committee Member - Dave Brown

David is Chief Executive Officer of Mercantile Bank Limited, a JSE-listed, mid-market bank. Its holding company is Caixa Geral de Depósitos S.A. (CGD), one of Portugal’s largest financial institutions. Prior to joining Mercantile, David ran Standard Bank’s business banking division which at the time was the largest provider of corporate banking services to mid-size companies in South Africa. It was at this time (2002-2003) that Luc got to know Dave and, shortly after he joined Vantage, Dave accepted Luc’s invitation to become a member of the Fund I investment committee.

Investment Committee Member - Wade de Jager

Wade runs an independent PE business associated with Rand Merchant Bank. Previously, he held the position of Director and Head of Standard Bank’s Private Equity division. Wade was responsible for determining investment strategy for the bank’s private equity initiatives and for implementing this strategy through their team of professional private equity investment professionals.

Wade is a Chartered Accountant by training. He specialized in forensic and investigative accounting. Luc worked for a time for Wade (2005) whilst both Luc and Wade were employed at Standard Bank and, shortly after joining Vantage, Wade accepted Luc’s invitation to become a member of the Fund I investment committee.