How to Find an International Buyer for your Business

In 2022, we saw increased foreign-buyer interest in South African businesses, with investors favouring South Africa as an alternative investment destination.

The quality of skillset, low production costs, occasional low material prices and easy access to the rest of Africa, which through AfCTA gives access to 1.2 billion customers in over 55 countries, are just some of the investment attractions.

Sub-Saharan African economic growth is forecast at 3.6% for 2022 and 3.7% in 2023, according to the World Economic Outlook report published by the International Monetary Fund in October 2022. This, when compared to a global forecast of 3.2% and 2.7% for 2022 and 2023 respectively, makes SSA and other developing regions with similar or higher growth rates attractive to investors.

When considering the opportunities that the SSA region has to offer, coupled with the strong infrastructure and operational capabilities of the underlying business assets, one can easily conclude that South Africa can present a strong investment case.

So, how do we at Deal Leaders International find the right international buyers for our clients?

We have a strong team that does extensive research and assessment to understand the core needs of our clients. First, we ensure a thorough understanding of our client's vision and business, and work through a detailed M&A strategy with them. Based on the client’s needs, a research strategy is developed and adopted to identify and locate potential buyers with like-minded and aligned interests.

With our client's approval, we engage with the identified potential buyers, confirm alignment and arrange a high-level introductory meeting with both parties to understand each other’s vision and to establish common ground and cultural fit.

We pride ourselves in establishing win: win opportunities for both sellers and buyers. Our interest is ensuring post-transaction alignment, growth and sustainability. This ethos is identified in many of our transactions.

One such transaction currently underway involves a 4th generation family-owned business and an international buyer. Our research and investigation identified the buyers as key strategic partners. Once we engaged with them, we found additional synergistic benefits to the partnership. Their like-minded vision and values would make a worthy partnership. Introducing the two and highlighting their shared values as well as allaying their concerns was necessary at an early stage of engagement.

For the international acquirer, who had no prior acquisition history with South African, their concerns around B-BBEE and ownership structures had to be demystified. For our client, understanding the intention of this large multinational and their role in the over-arcing strategy was important to protect their culture.

Once the two parties met and unpacked their own visions, they found pertinent similarities that spoke to their deep-rooted core values, beliefs, and legacies. Their shared beliefs and commitment to socio-economic change and education were so aligned, that each had a policy with their own funds driving this agenda.