Mauritian investment company Lonsa Group has acquired window and door manufacturer Swartland through its Lonsa Everite special purpose vehicle for R1.3 billion, cementing a platform to build a leading building materials group in Sub-Saharan Africa within the next five years.

Lonsa Everite Proprietary Limited (“Lonsa Everite”), together with Legacy Africa Capital Partners (“LACP”) and Swartland management, have acquired 100% of the issued shares in Swartland Investments and Swartland Insulation (“Swartland”), as well as the freehold properties from which Swartland operates and is adjacent to, from Swartland Group Proprietary Limited and a third-party seller.

The transaction value of circa R1.3 Billion was funded through a combination of Lonsa Group Limited, Lonsa Everite and LACP shareholder equity, a vendor deferred payment agreement and R660 million of debt financing provided by Nedbank Limited.

The acquisition, after receiving approval from all relevant competition authorities and reaching financial close, became effective on 1 July 2022 and includes all of Swartland’s existing operations and assets, as well as the recently established insulation manufacturing business.

Swartland is an industry leading manufacturer and supplier of wooden doors and windows, aluminum doors and windows, garage doors as well as XPS insulation and cornices, and operates in Southern Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. You can see the product range at this link.

With well-known brands such as COL, Kenzo and Hydro, Swartland is a notable and complementary addition to Lonsa Everite’s existing Nutec and AAC brands, significantly widening the Lonsa Everite offering of building material supplies.

In addition, the acquisition rationale was further strengthened through strategic initiatives and synergies identified by Lonsa Everite. This includes expansion of both Lonsa Everite and Swartland’s footprint in the rest of Africa, optimisation of Swartland’s distribution capabilities by leveraging off Lonsa Everite’s established distribution network, providing a greater basket of goods to building supply retailers through complementary products from both Lonsa Everite and Swartland and expansion of Swartland’s route to market utilising e-commerce platforms such as Takealot and others to come.

Robin Vela, Chairman of Lonsa Everite, said:

”The acquisition of Swartland talks to our strategic objective of establishing the Lonsa Everite Group as the preeminent industrial building materials manufacturer and distributor on the African Continent. This will be achieved through a combination of astute acquisitions, leveraging and realising synergies between group entities and organic growth. Both Lonsa Everite and Swartland are highly cash generative, profitable businesses with long established brands (over 80 and 70 years respectively) presence in the South African building materials market. We have only just gotten started and there is more to come.”

Kgosi Monametsi, Managing Director of Legacy Africa Capital Partners, commented:

‘We are delighted to again have partnered with Lonsa Group Limited and Everite Management in this transaction. The investment into Swartland is not only a financially attractive one but also fulfills our Funds objectives from a transformation perspective as well as the contribution to society more broadly as Swartland is a significant employer and job creator.”

Jurgen Stragier, Chief Executive of Lonsa Everite, added:

“Following the acquisition of Everite in May last year by the consortium led by Lonsa Group Limited, the business has developed an ambitious growth strategy, starting with the acquisition of other leading building material businesses with respectable heritage and strong brands. Swartland is certainly among the top of this select grouping of companies, and Lonsa Everite is excited at the prospect of growing a bigger and better Group through this acquisition. It provides a strong starting point for what will be a leading building materials Group in Sub-Saharan Africa within the next 5 years, driven by great people delivering great products to the market.”

Lonsa Everite was advised by Birkett Stewart McHendrie (BSM), a South African corporate advisory firm with a boutique culture that specialises in M&A, restructurings and distressed advisory, transaction services and capital raising. The founding partners have worked together since 2012, completing sophisticated financial advisory services for clients ranging from family businesses, private equity funds and JSE-listed companies through to large multinationals. You can find out more about BSM at this link.

Learn more about Lonsa Everite:

Lonsa Everite was incorporated as a special purpose acquisition vehicle in 2020 when Lonsa Group Limited (“Lonsa Group”), LACP and Everite Management acquired the business and assets of Everite Proprietary Limited (“Everite”) from Group Five Limited. Lonsa Group is a Mauritius incorporated investment vehicle established in 2004 with interests in the energy, industrials, logistics and property sectors in Southern Africa. Everite was established in 1941 and is the leading industrial manufacturer of a range of niche building products for the South African building industry’s commercial, industrial and residential market sectors. Everite is known for its comprehensive range of Nutec Roofing and Cladding Solutions, which includes fibre cement roofing, cladding, ceilings and building columns amongst others. Everite is also the license holder for various leading alternative building systems and technologies.

Learn more about Swartland:

Swartland was established in 1951 and operates as a multifaceted building supplies manufacturer. Swartland is one of the largest manufacturers of quality windows and doors in the South African building industry. Their national distribution footprint comprises 7 depots and more than 42 031m² of warehouse space, situated in all major economic centers in South Africa. Swartland also own the Boskor Sawmill in Tsitsikamma which supplies FSC certified pine timber. This has allowed for synergies within the business as Swartland can now ensure a constant and quality supply of pine to their various product lines. It also allows them to secure the best cut of the timber which was not a guarantee. Swartland manages its own distribution network with a fleet of c. 50 trucks which can deliver to hardware retail chains around sub-Saharan Africa. Swartland also exports products to the UK and US markets.

Swartland’s product offering includes wooden doors and windows, aluminium doors and windows, garage doors and automation, XPS insulation and cornices and skirtings, finishes, par awnings and finished products.

Learn more about LACP:

LACP was founded in September 2018 and is a private equity fund management business. LACP is the manager of Legacy Africa Capital Partners Fund I and is part of Legacy Africa Fund Managers. LACP is a 100% black-owned and managed company comprising a team of deal principals with a long history of private equity investing. The firm seeks to provide capital to entrepreneurial, unlisted companies seeking expansion or buy-out capital to introduce black shareholding to drive growth.