Where South African & Australian business, corporates, executives and investors meet

This is the first official edition of the Southern Crossings newsletter.  
You are receiving this as you have previously attended an event hosted by Southern Crossings or its committee members.  
 

The Southern Crossings Network originally started in Sydney in 2007 with support from Macquarie and Ashurst executives and has been operating with support from various patrons and corporations.  Our patrons include Margaret Dreier, Paul Greenberg, Cliff Rosenberg, David Shein, Mark Stanbridge, Giam Swiegers, Gerhard Vorster and Jane Watts.  We are very fortunate to have the support of our patrons who have all enjoyed very successful careers here in Australia in addition to hundreds of very successful and passionate South African professionals now living and working in Australia.  

The purpose of the network is to help business executives, business owners and investors with South African roots to connect and create opportunities to advance their careers, and businesses and further integrate into the Australian economy.  With the support of Metcash, we have launched our new website and membership model.  

We have a series of bespoke events planned for 2024 and will continue to develop features through our website which will help our individual and corporate members to connect, help new arrivals to integrate into the Australian business environment, develop mentorship/connection programmes and provide a glide path for South Africans looking to come from overseas through partnering with various recruiters and immigration firms and companies.  We very much appreciate all the support from our members across Australia as we look to build these out to benefit our community.  

If you would like to subscribe to this quarterly newsletter, attend an event and/or are interested in becoming an individual or corporate member of the network, please register via our website:  www.southerncrossings.org.au.  

We welcome member contributions and look forward to seeing you at our next event or in the news!

First Edition

More than 200,000 people born in South Africa now call Australia home.  While Elon Musk has been building EVs, satellites and repositioning “X” (he is a busy guy!), the South African diaspora has been hard at work “Down Under”.   South Africans are active across Australia in many areas including the economy, arts, science, government and sports. 

Over the years we have seen South African businesses and executives take on prominent positions in growing domestic businesses.   This includes companies such as Metcash, Allan Gray, SG Fleet, BidCorp, Investec, RMB, Sanlam, Woolworths/David Jones/Country Road, Youi, Hollard, Seaharvest and Nando’s (to name a few).  South African executives often have a front seat to local developments, building, leading or serving on the boards of businesses like BHP, St George, Westpac, Optus, Woolworths, Invocare, AUB Group, Sonic Healthcare, Scentre Group, Pengana, Deloitte, Tennis Australia…the lists goes on and on. Yes, there is a lot of name-dropping that could be done!

This newsletter celebrates those corporations, business leaders and investors who are having a positive impact on Australia.  We hope that you are excited to be part of this growing corporate and business ecosystem, which is fully integrated into Australia.  Yes, we do keep a list and you are most welcome to be part of it!  
 

A Look Back at 2023: In the News

Looking back at 2023, we celebrate those with South African roots who have been working hard at advancing Australia. 

1. Rafi Geminder’s Kin Group has made an off market take over bid for Pact Group (ASX), the latest / revised the offer values Pact Group at c.$300m (or $1.4bn EV).  Kin Group has Ashurst in its corner.  Flagstaff and Freehills are working with Pact Group. 
2. Bart Vogel has had a busy year as chairman of Invocare (ASX).  Following many twists and turns, Invocare was sold to PE outfit TPG for an implied equity value of $1.8bn. 
3. Macquarie Capital Principal Finance has purchased a 15 per cent stake in privately held insurance platform The Envest Group, valuing Envest at over $1bn.  Envest made more than 27 acquisitions in 2023. This caps off a very large year from the group led by Greg Mullins, who sold Envest for $482m to UK based Ardonagh group earlier in the year. 
4. Australian retail analytics platform Style Arcade, led by founder Michaela Wessels, raised an $8m Series A round and expanded into fashion hotspots New York and London.  Michaela has now relocated to New York.
5. Graeme Katz’s Irongate group is back on the acquisition trail following a relaunch with backing from JSE listed Burstone Group.  This follows an MBO of its platform from Charter Hall (ASX) and with Stephen Koseff resuming the role as chair.
6. Gary Burrows led an MBO of Planpay group partnering with long time travel tech CTO Jeff Lewis. 
7. Our Innovation Fund raised a $75m Opportunity Fund, positioning David Shein, Geoff Levy AO, Jerry Stessel and the team further grow their portfolio of investments.
8. Leading day hospital group PresMed Australia, co-founded by Marc Resnik, was sold by JSE listed Advanced Health Limited to global asset manager ICG. Advanced Health and PresMed were advised by Monash Advisory  
9. After 34 years of ownership the Sher family sold Chargrill Charlie’s to PE firm PAG Capital Asia backed Craveable Brands group.  Chargrill Charlie’s were advised by Monash Advisory.
10. Department Store David Jones was sold by Woolworths South Africa (JSE) to Phil Cave’s Anchorage Capital for $100m, marking an exit by the South African retailer who still owns Country Road in Australia. 
11. Jaco Veldsman and Francois Henrion exited their fintech scale up Paytron to OFX (ASX).  Paytron had early backing from leading VC Carthona Capital.
12. Automation advisory business rapidMATION, founded by Shaun Leisegang, was acquired by IT consultancy Tecala which has Steve Nola on its board (former Dimension Data CEO).  Tecala is backed by investment firm Armitage Associates.  rapidMATION had help from Matthew King to navigate the transaction

Have we missed a deal?  We would love to highlight transactions our members have been involved in (as owner, executives, investor or adviser).   Please email us if you want to log your news. 

People Moves & QF64

• Brian Schwartz AM retired from the Board of Scentre Group (ASX) after 7 years of service as Chairman.
• Larry Diamond, founder of ZipCo (ASX) relocated to New York to become Zip Co’s US CEO. 
• Dain Friis joined as CEO of SkinKandy, previously with Adairs and Lovisa.
• Jaco Jonker joined as CFO & COO of HiPages (ASX), previously with Open Colleges.
• Gareth Turner  joined as a NED at SuperLoop (ASX). Gareth has been busy, also moving into the CCO role at Infomedia (ASX) having been the CFO for 2 years.
• Graham Lello wrapped up his time as CFO of MA Financial (ASX) aka Moelis.
• Jon Brett has joined as a NED at Raiz Invest (ASX), where Grant Brits (our very own Olympian) is the COO.

We have seen a steady stream of experienced executives arrive in Australia (no doubt many via QF64 but also many from the UK, MEA and elsewhere) .  We look forward to welcoming Deepa Sita to Australia, who will be joining as Group CFO of Metcash in 2024.  Deepa is currently Group CFO at Tiger Brands.

Have we missed a people move?  Please email us if you want to celebrate a people move or new arrival to Australian business.

Because we live in Australia

It is hard to not say something about Siya, Rassie and the Springbok team’s victory in the Rugby World Cup.  What a tournament.  We look forward to hosting many compatriots and companies in Australia in 2027.  Whilst there is no Moulin Rouge in Sydney for corporate events (you know who you are!) there is plenty to plan for and to do will no doubt as we will no doubt welcome many South Africans to our shores over the next few years and with the next RWC. 

Then there was the Cricket…and it’s great to be an Aussie – winners again! 😉

Did you know?

At the end of June 2021, 201,930 South African-born people were living in Australia. This makes the South African-born population the seventh-largest migrant community in Australia.  A steady stream of permanent residents continues to flow, with the largest contributor coming via the employer-sponsored programme (1,500 awarded in 2022 alone).  With South Africans starting to arrive 40+ years ago, many second and even third generations are settled in Australia. 

Paul Greenberg’s NORA (National Online Retailer Association) celebrated its 10-year milestone in December.  Well done Paul and Adelle!! 😉

We hope you enjoyed the First Edition of our newsletter.  Feel free to email us with any suggestions or suggested content.  Until next time!

Elfreda, Lauren, Hein & The Southern Crossings Team

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About Southern Crossings News

Southern Crossings News is a free newsletter celebrating achievements by executives, corporations, business owners and investors with South African roots in Australia. 

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Southern Crossings is a national corporate & business network for South Africans who have a shared desire to contribute toward the growth and success of Australia.

Interested in becoming an individual or corporate member of the Southern Crossings network?  Apply via our website.

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