Corporate finance advisory for decision points
Acquisitions, disposals, raises, rescues, and listings — the moments where the right structure creates or destroys years of value. Caban advises African businesses through all of them, with the incentive alignment of a firm that also invests its own capital.
Advisory services
Six mandates we run repeatedly, each led by principals who have sat on your side of the table — as founders, CFOs, and listed-company directors.
Mergers, acquisitions & disposals
Buy-side and sell-side advisory: target identification, valuation, negotiation, and completion.
Deal advisoryBusiness turnaround & restructuring
Hands-on stabilisation, creditor negotiation, and operational rebuild for businesses under pressure.
Turnaround servicesPre-IPO preparation & valuation
Readiness assessment, valuation, governance, and structuring for businesses preparing to list.
Pre-IPO processPrivate equity services
Deal origination, due diligence, and portfolio support for PE investors active in African markets.
PE servicesNon-executive director placement
Board strengthening with experienced NEDs who bring governance, networks, and grey hair.
NED placementBankable business plans
Investment-grade plans and financial models built to pass investor, bank, and DFI scrutiny.
Business plansCapital raising — equity, debt & grant
End-to-end raise execution across equity, debt, and grant funding, delivered through our Investor Readiness Programme.
The programmeCapital raising readiness programme
Twelve stages from business plan to term sheet: validation, valuation, investor targeting, and negotiation.
What's includedDevelopment & DFI funding
Applications and structuring for development funders across Africa — NEF, SEFA, IDC, and continental DFIs.
Funding sourcesHow an engagement works
Confidential consultation
A direct conversation about your situation, options, and whether we're the right firm for the mandate. No charge, no obligation.
Structured assessment
We assess the business, the numbers, and the market position — then define the mandate, deliverables, and timeline in writing.
Execution to completion
Principal-led execution through to signed deal, completed raise, stabilised business, or successful listing. We stay until it's done.
Deals done by people who have done deals
Buy-side or sell-side, the difference between a good and bad outcome is usually preparation and negotiating position. We build both before anyone sits at the table.
Valuation grounded in evidence
Comparable transactions, DCF, and what buyers actually pay in African markets
Deal structuring across jurisdictions
SA and UK legal and tax structuring through one team
Negotiation led by principals
The person who priced your business is the person in the room
Principal-led mandates
Turnaround & restructuringValue defended when it matters most
Turnarounds and restructurings reward speed and honesty. We stabilise first, then rebuild — creditors managed, cash protected, operations simplified.
Stabilisation in weeks
Cash control, creditor standstills, critical-supplier terms
Operational rebuild
Cost architecture, management strengthening, focus
Exit or refinance
Positioned for sale, recapitalisation, or a return to growth
Ready for the public markets
Listing readiness is a two-year discipline compressed into the months you actually have. Governance, reporting, valuation, and the story institutional investors will interrogate.
Pre-IPO valuation
Defensible numbers before bankers and auditors arrive
Governance & board strengthening
NED placement and committee structures that pass scrutiny
The equity story
An investment case written for the people writing the cheques
Pre-IPO & listingsConsidering a transaction in the next 12 months?
The single biggest driver of deal value is starting preparation early. A confidential conversation now costs nothing and protects everything.
Book a confidential consultationThe development funding desk
Development finance is often the right capital for South African and African businesses — patient, mandate-driven, and priced for growth. We prepare applications and structure deals for the funders that matter:
South Africa — B-BBEE-aligned equity and debt for black-empowered businesses
South Africa — loans and credit facilities for SMMEs
South Africa — industrial and sector development finance at scale
Regional — infrastructure and development project finance
South Africa — agricultural and agri-business finance
Continental — sovereign and private-sector development finance
Global — private-sector investment across emerging markets
UK DFI — equity and debt into African growth businesses
Long-term financing for private enterprises in Africa
Equity, debt, and guarantees for African private-sector growth
We match your business to the right funder, prepare the application to their standard, and manage the process to disbursement. Discuss development funding →
The Listings Desk: from private company to public market
With the JSE's first significant tech listings in six years completed in late 2025, the public-market window has reopened. Caban prepares companies for that route end to end — listing readiness, governance, valuation, and the equity story — with JSE AltX Designated Adviser accreditation in progress and DA services opening in late 2026. Listing-readiness mandates are open now.
Discuss a listingWhoever holds the decision, we speak their language
Advisory shaped to the person carrying the risk.
For owners considering a sale
Know what the business is worth, who would buy it, and what to fix first — before you signal anything to the market.
For boards under pressure
Independent assessment, honest options, and hands-on execution when trading tightens.
For CFOs raising capital
Institutional-grade preparation and access to investors beyond the local pool.
Original research by our analysts — the same work that informs every mandate we take. Full research programme →
Harnessing Private Growth Capital in South Africa to Create Jobs
Why private growth capital, not aid, is South Africa’s most credible jobs engine.
→White paperDriving Inclusive Venture Capital in Sub-Saharan Africa
Widening who gets funded — and why inclusive pipelines outperform.
→White paperIndustry Spotlight: Emerging Sectors for Venture Capital in South Africa
The sectors where South African venture returns are forming next.
→Forthcoming 2026The $331 Billion Gap: Financing Africa’s Missing Middle
Sizing the SME financing shortfall and the instruments closing it.
Also in production at the Caban research desk — white papers: Exit Pathways for African Growth Companies, Blended Capital for African Healthcare, From Grant to Equity: Community Ownership That Outlasts Donors · working papers: DFI Co-Investment Behaviour in Sub-Saharan Africa 2020–2026, Services-for-Equity: Evidence from a Decade of Portfolio Data, Pre-IPO Governance Readiness Among South African Mid-Caps.
Questions, answered
You have questions. Our team — and our research — has answers.
How do advisory fees work?
Mandates combine a retainer with success-based fees aligned to outcomes. Structure is agreed in writing before work begins — no surprises.
How confidential is a first conversation?
Completely. Most engagements begin months before anything is public, and NDAs are standard from the first substantive discussion.
Do you advise on both sides of transactions?
Never on the same transaction. Conflicts are checked before any mandate is accepted.
What size company do you advise?
Growth-stage businesses through established corporates — typically companies facing a transaction, raise, restructuring, or listing decision.
Can you work alongside our existing accountants and lawyers?
Yes — we lead the corporate finance workstream and coordinate with incumbent advisers rather than replacing them.
Facing a transaction, a raise, or a hard decision?
Start with a confidential conversation with a Caban principal. If we're not the right firm, we'll tell you — and usually point you to who is.
Book a confidential consultation