Equity Holdings

The Ecsponent group’s wealth generating functions include capital raising, credit provision and equity. When considering possible equity investments, the group looks to acquire equity investments that satisfy specific conditions, which include that these companies have:

  • high gross profits,
  • high barriers to entry,
  • high intellectual property,
  • and investments that have application beyond the borders of South Africa.

These assets are acquired and disposed of to achieve the greatest return on investment for shareholders, but some of the group’s current equity assets include investments in:

The group’s Equity Holdings business unit was significantly bolstered with the acquisition of 10% of the issued share capital in MyBucks SA, a Fintech company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. MyBucks is a fast growing, innovative Fintech business with credit, banking and insurance products delivered through its proprietary technology and digital channels. The MyBucks group has expanded rapidly in both Africa and Europe and not only provides the group with the obvious grass roots investment opportunity, but also offers a significant Rand hedge. The MyBucks investment is the most significant equity investment for the Ecsponent group to date. In addition to the anticipated share value appreciation, the investment also provides the group with a hard currency asset.

MyBucks is a perfect fit in respect of the group’s target investment profile. Fintech is changing the way Africans transact, bank, and borrow. Smartphones with their feature rich operating systems, provide platforms for apps that can make financial services accessible, convenient, and simple. As smartphone prices decrease, penetration levels are exceeding expectations. By 2020, it is projected that there will be 720m smartphones in use on the continent.

MyBucks operates in 11 African, two European countries, as well as Australia. Its back-end systems, proprietary banking, and mobile credit apps have been a catalyst for financial inclusion on the continent.

Ecsponent Biotech is an pioneering biotech company pioneering cellular research, treatments and therapies in Southern Africa.

As one of the specialised companies in the Ecsponent equity stable, Ecsponent Biotech provides the possibility of significant investment returns in line with Ecsponent’s approach to invest in companies with a technical and innovative edge.

The biotech industry is arguably still in the early stages of the innovation cycle with estimated development timelines of 10 to 15 years, yet there are a myriad proof points that biotech is a critical growth area for the next 100 years of human civilisation, which is where the investment opportunity presents itself.

Ecsponent has invested in three companies that meet our strong future-based investment requirements and combines the technical excellence of leading biotech organisations with Ecsponent’s capital provision and local business expertise.

In addition to its investment in regenerative medicine, Ecsponent Biotech leverages the infrastructure created by these investments to create biopharmaceutical products, i.e. pharmaceutical treatments product manufactured in, extracted from, or semi-synthesised from biological sources.

Ecsponent Limited acquireed a 51% stake in Return on Innovation (Pty) Limited (ROi). (www.roiafrica.com) in 2016.

ROi provides strategic management inputs across all media platforms from the rumblings on social media, through the wide variety of print media to radio and TV – all managed though one intelligence platform.

For Ecsponent, this acquisition is in line with our growth strategy in that ROi is an opportunity that is high tech, offers high margins, high barriers to entry and can effectively be applied in both a South African as well as in an international context.

In the current digital age, it is ultimately technology that drives corporate reputation where media monitoring no longer provides effective solutions to business and media intelligence is becoming the key differentiator. The demand for high quality, early inputs to a business in aspects such as strategy, products, market trends, consumer sentiment, competitor activity and the like continues to grow, and with its advanced platform, ROI Africa is expected to continue to be the industry benchmark in the media intelligence space.