Vantage Capital Fund Management

Vantage Capital Fund Managers (“VCFM”) has funds under management and investments of over R8.0 billion (over $500 million). VCFM was launched in 2001 with the Vantage Technology Fund which has invested R130 million ($19 million) in ten investments ranging from small start-ups, to larger established listed entities. The fund is now in the last phases of divestiture.

In early 2005, with the investment period on the technology fund coming to an end, VCFM started to explore the possibility of raising a second fund. With the help of the Dutch Development Bank FMO, it was decided that the low interest rate environment then prevailing in SA - which represented a significant departure from the high interest rates that characterised the eighties and nineties in the country - supported the establishment of a mezzanine fund. The fund raising process culminated in the final closing of the Vantage Mezzanine Fund in November 2007, with commitments of R1,003 million ($150 million). One-third of the funds were raised from foreign investors and the balance from local institutions and the Group as a co-investment commitment. In 2007/2008, the Fund was fully invested in five transactions in South Africa, namely Safripol, York Timbers, Tsebo, Primedia and Masevumeni. By March 2015, Vantage had successfully exited four of these investments.

In March 2012, Vantage Mezzanine closed Mezzanine Fund II, which had a pan-African investment focus (with a 35% allocation to opportunities outside South Africa) and could make investments of up to R300 million ($30 million) in a single transaction. R1.9 billion ($240 million) of commitments were secured from fourteen pension funds, three charitable endowments, two development finance institutions and a family office. By August 2015, the Fund was fully invested in nine transactions in South Africa (TrenStar, Efekto, Kgoro, Timrite, Pretoria Towers, Austell, Dynamic Bedding, Afrisam and Servest) and four transactions outside of South Africa (CA Sales in Botswana; Genser and Bay Realty in Ghana; and Simba Properties in Uganda). By end-2015, Vantage had successfully exited three of these investments.

Vantage Mezzanine is in the process of investing its 3rd Mezzanine Fund. Vantage Mezzanine Fund III closed with final commitments of circa R3.9 billion ($280 million) in March 2017 and has a Pan African mandate. Vantage is well-positioned as Africa’s leading mezzanine financier, capitalising on its strong position in the South African mezzanine market and building a portfolio of income generating mezzanine assets in South Africa and in the rest of Africa.

In 2013, Vantage launched its R2.2 billion ($220 million) GreenX Note I, which provides investors with exposure to South African renewable energy projects. This is achieved through the fund issuing Asset Backed Notes to its investors and using these proceeds to acquire senior debt in a diversified portfolio of eight solar and wind projects that collectively as a portfolio will produce 666 MW. In 2017, Vantage launched GreenX Note II reaching final close with total commitments of R3.0 billion ($214 million) – Vantage is currently investing Note II which has a similar mandate and structure to Note I except that it focuses on the provision of CPI-linked senior debt to underlying projects.