Cape Town, July 16, 2008: Two ex-Zimbabweans are carving a niche in the South African private
equity industry through their innovative new company, Coast2Coast (C2C). The company uses a
unique business model to acquire and develop complimentary businesses to ultimately list them
as groups on the stock exchange. Since July 2007, C2C has invested in six entrepreneurial
businesses and it has plans for at least four more investments before Christmas.
What sets C2C apart from other private equity companies are two fundamental differences. Firstly,
the owners Gary Shayne (CEO) and Cris Dillon (COO) currently use their own private funds –
accumulated through a series of highly successful entrepreneurial ventures to make the
investments.
The second point of difference is that Shayne and Dillon took a non-corporate route to private
equity. Says Shayne, “Our experience as entrepreneurs has meant that forming true partnerships
with the companies in which we take stakes is incredibly important to us. C2C do not merely
invest in the businesses, but we offer mentorship as well as guidance with strategy, systems,
production and marketing which will help grow the business.”
He said, “C2C’s strategy is to invest in local businesses which are easy to understand, have
limited competition and operate in well-established markets. They should also have a minimum
annual profit of R5 million, an annual turnover of at least R50 million and a track record of seven
to 15 years. C2C takes a stake of between 40 and 100 percent in the businesses and sit on all
company boards.”
He said that C2C had invested in six exceptional businesses over the past 12 months. “Our first
investment was in July 2007 in Toolworth, a tool distribution company, followed by an investment
in Reviva, the importer of international footwear brand FitFlop. Next came Visec, the developers
and distributors of the most sophisticated license-plate recognition software on the market.
“Recently, we invested in a well-established organic food business, Allganix, which manufactures
organic baby food products which are sold under the brand name Olli Organic and is available in
major retail stores. Most recently, we also bought a stake in Triberry, the pulp supplier to
Allganix.” C2C also often acquires the properties owned by investment businesses and holds
these in C2C Properties, renting them to the operating entities at market-related rentals.
The company will look to take stakes in further food or consumer brand companies in order to
cluster these together as attractive listing opportunities. “We firmly believe that there are many
more exceptional independent businesses in South Africa which will benefit from additional
funding and strategic input.”
Dillon says he believes that Shayne’s experiences doing business under extremely tough
circumstances in Zimbabwe will stand the pair in good stead in the current climate. “In April 2003,
Gary listed his telecommunications company Celsys on the Zimbabwe stock exchange with a
market capitalisation of the equivalent of US$ 22 million. He was 32 and the youngest CEO on
the Zimbabwe stock exchange at the time. After operating a business in an environment where
inflation rose to over 60,000 percent per annum, Gary is ready for any challenges that come his
way!”
This was one in a series of successful ventures by both Shayne and Dillon which allowed them to
accumulate the personal funds for C2C’s investments. Dillon says using their own funds,
contributes to their vested interest in the success of the businesses. “This means that we look to
form valuable relationships rather just playing the role of passive investors.”
Integrity, passion and ethics are high on the list of priorities of the C2C’s owners. These values
are, as a result, also highly prevalent in its employees and the owners and employees of its group
companies.
Dillon concludes that the company will look to invest in at least four new businesses by the end of
2008, and expects to raise a further R100 million in the next year to increase their existing fund,
for further investments and to grow their current portfolio.