Awards for Excellence 2016
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In a year of real hardship for its home country, during which South Africa’s finance minister declared the economy “in crisis”, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) nonetheless performed well and succeeded in dethroning Citi to claim the best investment bank in Africa award.
Led by James Formby, RMB is an investment bank with a deal footprint across 35 African countries. In the final six months of 2015, pre-tax profits increased 13% to $264 million and the business delivered an impressive return on equity of 22.2%.
Although not very active in the equity capital markets, RMB had an impressive year in the debt capital markets and in mergers and acquisitions. It worked on the £1.35 billion ($1.92 billion) reverse takeover of Al Noor Hospitals by Mediclinic International – one of the most important M&A deals of the year in Africa.
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James Formby, |
RMB jointly advised on, structured and funded South African private equity firm Brait in the £783 million acquisition of a 90% stake of New Look Retail Group, the UK-based fast-fashion value retailer. A repeat adviser to Brait, RMB also worked for the firm on its acquisition of an 80% stake in the UK’s Virgin Active, one of the world’s leading health club operators, from CVC Capital Partners and Virgin Group. The bank acted as financial adviser to the Fountainhead Property Trust’s board on Redefine Properties’ R10 billion ($656 million) acquisition of Fountainhead Property Trust. It also worked on the Xina Solar One Power Project, a project in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, at a cost of R10.2 billion with senior debt of nearly R7.5 billion.
