The Mergence Group has acquired a controlling stake in Cadiz Corporate Solutions, with the team rebranded under the name Mergence Corporate Solutions (MCS), with a presence in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
MCS MD Robbie Gonsalves will continue to lead the team of eight people, including veteran mining analyst Peter Major.
MCS offers services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), corporate restructuring, capital raising, black economic empowerment (BEE), business valuations and derivative strategies.
The team has operated for 20 years and has been involved on some of the largest transactions in South Africa, advising on M&A transactions worth more than R105-billion over the last ten years.
Mergence and Cadiz connected through a recently concluded transaction where the team was seeking a BEE partner for its client, Bahrain Fibreglass Group (BFG). Mergence consequently acquired a controlling stake in BFG’s operations in South Africa, with effect from December 2018.
Mergence was founded in August 2004 and is a well-recognised independent investment house and one of the largest black-controlled and managed financial institutions in South Africa.
The group manages assets worth about R40-billion.
Mergence founder Masimo Magerman was excited at the prospect of these additional capabilities in the group.
“The merger will provide Mergence with additional deal origination, capital raising and financial structuring capabilities and capitalise on financial advisory opportunities,” he said.
Gonsalves said the merger of the former Cadiz team into the Mergence group has been seamless as some of the individuals have known each other for many years and the cultural fit is perfect.
“The team will benefit from Mergence’s empowerment credentials and access to deal-flow.”