Ethos concludes investment into South African analytics firm

5th August 2019 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

Ethos concludes investment into South African analytics firm

Synerlytic CEO Jon Hillary
Photo by: Creamer Media's Dylan Slater

Following the successful delisting of Torre Industries from the JSE in April and further to the delisting plan, the business was successfully separated into two autonomous entities.

Torre Analytical Services (TAS) was acquired by Ethos Mid Market Fund (EMMF) and Torre Industrial (TI) by Apex Partners.

In partnership with EMMF, TAS has now been rebranded as Synerlytic Group, comprising three offerings.

These are WearCheck, a condition monitoring business; AMIS, an international manufacturer and supplier of a wide range of matrix-matched certified reference materials (CRMs); and Setpoint Laboratories, an ISO 17025-accredited analytical chemistry laboratory.

“Synerlytic is the TIC market leader in Africa. We offer our clients mission critical oil condition monitoring for predictive maintenance, CRMs needed for quality assurance and control, and analytical chemistry services across various industries,” said Synerlytic CEO Jon Hillary.

“With eight labs across South Africa and a further 13 labs in 11 other countries in Africa and the Middle East, we have an unrivalled regional footprint – even for clients in remote locations – resulting in impressive turnaround times,” he enthused.

Together with EMMF, the group intends to unlock synergies available as a result of its new autonomous structure.

It also intends to diversify its geographic footprint through executing an organic and acquisitive growth strategy.

EMMF owns about 90% of Synerlytic, with management holding the balance. 

EMMF was launched in 2016 and targets investments into high-growth companies that will benefit from the team’s differentiated capabilities to actively optimise strategy, operations and capital structures in partnership with management.

Notably, the fund is majority-owned and managed by black individuals enabling it to confer considerable empowerment credentials to underlying portfolio companies. 

Other EMMF investments include Autozone, Twinsaver, Eazi Access, Echotel, MTN Zakhele Futhi, Kevro and Gammatek.