It is the most consequential transaction most owners ever make, and the one they have had least practice at. For over three decades, Alchemy has guided South African business owners through the sale, purchase and funding of their companies. Senior people, doing the work themselves, staying at the table until the deal is signed.
Whether you are realising a lifetime’s work, acquiring to grow, or raising the capital to get there, Alchemy brings senior corporate finance judgement to the transactions that define a business.
Sell-side advisory, capital raising and funding for owners and management teams. We value the business honestly, prepare it properly, run a discreet and controlled process, and negotiate hard, through to a signed deal.
Talk to us, confidentiallyAcquiring a business is where buyers most often overpay, or inherit problems they never saw coming. We walk acquirers through the entire process: valuation, financial modelling, full commercial and financial due diligence, deal structuring, funding and a clean close. We have guided global acquirers and first-time buyers through it alike.
Discuss an acquisitionMost owners fear the unknown more than the outcome. Here is exactly how a sell-side mandate runs, and why nothing leaves the room without your say-so. Buy-side mandates follow the same discipline, in reverse.
No obligation, nothing on the record. We listen first, to what you have built, and what you actually want from a transaction.
What the business is genuinely worth, and the steps that make it worth more before anyone sees it. No inflated promises to win the mandate.
The right buyers or funders, approached carefully and on your terms. Your staff, customers and the market learn nothing until you decide they should.
We model every scenario, hold the line in negotiation, and stay at the table through legals and conditions, until the deal is signed and settled.
Through Alchemy Capital Investments, we invest our own capital in businesses and sit on the buyer’s side of the table. We know how acquirers think, what they probe for, and where value is won and lost, because we are acquirers ourselves.
When we act for you, that insight works entirely in your favour. You are not hiring a broker who has read about deals. You are hiring principals who live inside them.
On any single transaction, Alchemy acts for one side only. Our advisory and investment activities are kept strictly separate.
A hospitality-sector chemicals manufacturer we acquired and transformed into a structured, scalable operating platform: eight national branches, multiple manufacturing sites.
An investment holding in a consumer-facing business, where we contribute capital, governance and strategic direction as a hands-on shareholder.
Three decades of transactions across South African industry, on both sides of the table. Client names withheld for confidentiality; engagements described by sector and scope.
Lead advisor to a global mining-equipment group on a South African control-systems acquisition, and a decade of follow-on restructurings, share transactions and management buy-ins since.
Buy-side · Decade-longWe held a significant stake in Waterlinx, a national water-products distribution platform, and advised it through its acquisition-led growth: valuations and due diligence on the businesses it bought. The platform was subsequently sold to global aquatics group Fluidra, completing the investment and growth cycle.
Invested · Advised · ExitedBuy-side lead and due-diligence advisor on the acquisition of a multi-entity water-engineering and pumping group, including structuring, financing and commercial implementation.
Buy-sideBuy-side acquisitions, funding and capital-raising mandates across the plastics-manufacturing sector: full lifecycle from integrated model to close, with engagement through the major banks.
Buy-side · FundingRestructuring and transaction advisory on a large logistics and shipping platform, including financial restructuring, corporate structuring and broader empowerment initiatives.
RestructuringLead financial and capital-raising advisor on a suburban retail-centre development: bankable feasibility model, capital stack, and negotiated funding through multiple lenders.
Capital raiseIn a transaction this important, you are not buying a firm. You are buying the people who do the work. At Alchemy, that is exactly who you get.
Founder of Alchemy, which he established in 1988, and its chairman to this day. Three decades in corporate finance, private equity and deal structuring across the South African mid-market. A founding shareholder in Waterlinx, the national water-products platform later sold to global aquatics group Fluidra. Chairs the group’s investment decisions and sits at the head of the table on its most significant mandates.
Brings together corporate finance, operational and systems experience, with a practical understanding of how businesses are valued, negotiated, acquired and improved. Works across private equity, acquisitions, disposals, valuations, due diligence and financial modelling, and serves as CIO of portfolio company Hychem.
A lawyer specialising in corporate transactions, structuring and commercial agreements. Brings legal discipline and execution rigour to every mandate, from shareholder arrangements through deal documentation to close.
Most owners do this once in a lifetime. We walk through the process end to end: valuation, preparation, finding buyers, and getting to a clean close.
The difference between a fair price and a great one is usually decided 12 to 24 months before the process even begins.
The questions a careful acquirer asks, the diligence that protects you, and how to structure a deal you will not regret.
Whether you are looking to sell, buy, or raise capital, tell us where you are. We will come back to you within one business day, in complete confidence.