WHAT WE DO
Deros are personalized and customized strategy & people integration professionals, operating
on a single individual in executive search, or as a collective in business broking.
In order to grow their footprint Deros focus on collaborating with associates or licensing & empowering highly experienced business professionals who have the personal gravitas to manage strategic engagement and consulting; plus have experience operating at a senior executive level.
DEROS BUSINESS MODEL
EXECUTIVE SEARCH CLIENTS
The Deros client base includes multinational, listed and unlisted companies, specifically those with critical leadership challenges. We have successfully concluded hundreds of high level assignments, across all disciplines and industry sectors. The bulk of our work and assignments completed have however, been the manufacturing and marketing industry sectors: Industry in General, Food, Beverage, Chemical, Engineering, Mining, Construction, Banking & Finance, Hi Tech, Automotive, Marine, Personal Care/ Pharmaceuticals, FMCG, Supply Chain
Deros goes into each meeting with clients and prospective clients armed with an in-depth understand the business, the industry and its competitors. We aim to meaningfully understand and contribute to clients holistically (including vision, structure, people, strategy, output and culture), irrespective of the market or industry.
WHERE ARE WE?
Deros operates in South Africa and Africa as a whole. Our head office is in Cape Town
and we have numerous associates in over 25 different countries across Europe, USA and beyond
OUR COMMITMENT
We offer on a personalized basis a total business and staffing solutions designed
around executive identification plus business turnaround, sale or acquisition.
We specifically focus on growing leadership abilities and business performance for African companies.
We know and understand the markets and the industries we serve as well as our clients do
Our offering is based on best international practice and ethical standards
Our clients, candidates and partners can be totally confident that their information will be kept confidential unless we are specifically authorized to share the same
We have the backing of very large local and international databases of businesses, industries, associates and candidates to ensure the best sale and candidate fit is made for our clients
We build our success and those of all our clients on long term relationships
We offer the flexibility of a small company but the leverage of a large multinational group
We bring to our clients a personal innovative approach and practical business solutions
We do nothing without the involvement of the management team of the client
But most importantly “our goal is to help make good companies great companies”
OUR BUSINESS PRIVATE EQUITY HISTORY
Deros Business Broking was formed over 15 years ago as a natural extension of our strategy & people integration business to help clients set up BEE partnerships, raise capital, target & acquire businesses for growth, or divest all or part of their own business
Successes have been achieved via personalised service by the executives who personally carry out the assessments and negotiations, plus we have limited deals to those where we can add value.
INVESTMENT PARAMETERS
We have become very effective in handling transactions where the sellers & buyers find it difficult to get personalised service and execution.
We have filled this space by adopting two significant points of difference to traditional investment banking/ broker organizations:
• Firstly, we appoint a small experienced team to exclusively work on the clients deal and who have senior business leadership to practically add value
• Secondly we have formed strong strategic alliances with specialist service business partners in related fields to enable us to offer complete solutions.
Whilst being flexible, we tend to favour companies with:
o Strong brands/ unique competitive advantage
o Sustainable business pipeline,
o Strong annuity income,
o Strong free cash flow
o Depth of management in place or identified.
BUSINESS MERGER – SALE PROCESS
Our method of business sale or merger follows the same proven multi-phase process we use in all our assignments.
Each of these phases includes several steps aimed at ensuring that we believe in the business acquisition/ sale viability& that we can add value, then preparing the deal documentation, company preparation, plus attracting and retaining interest from the “right parties” for the sale/ partnership.
OUR FEE STRUCTURE
Our professional fee structure for assignments is presented in a formal document and is agreed to by the client before the work on any assignment commences.
Our fees are determined by such factors as:
• the level of the deal complexity to be struck
• the anticipated difficulties in finding and attracting the right partners/ leadership
• the time required to bring about the solution
• the geographical area to be investigated ( local/ international search )
The fee is normally payable in several instalments over the active period of the assignment, often spanning three to twelve months.
EXCLUSIVITY
Our agreements imply exclusivity. This means that the client will not have the right to contract with other investors, business brokers, consultants or potential partners during the agreed exclusivity period.
THE TEAM
Our team & associates are traditionally ex-CEOs or ex-CFOs who bring to bear considerable experience and networks.
Our experience covers most areas of business and we offer:
• Preliminary assessment of the feasibility of the deal plus broad strategy formulation
• Development of strategies & business plans
• Profitability improvement plans
• Identification of acquisition targets – growth plan
• Capital raising
• Sale of business
• Advice on management and shareholder structure and agreements;
• Provision of an experienced, interested non-executive directors;
• Assistance and advice with equity funder exit strategy, as necessary.
• Assistance and advice with BEE partners as necessary
KEY MEMBERS:
Derrick Planting
BSc (Chem) – University of Stellenbosch
Marketing Management – Damelin
Advanced Management Program – UCT
30 years in the corporate management disciplines of production, sales/ marketing locally & internationally.
He has worked at ICI, the Reed Group and then Chemical Services where he served as Managing Director of a number of group companies, a main Board Member & Chairman of various subsidiaries. This allowed him to appreciate all the processes and disciplines needed to make a success of both large multi-dimensional and small enterprises.
He understands Southern African Industry and more particularly the issues facing management.
He has spent the last 20 years working in people and strategy integrations, which has covered Executive Search, Business Consulting & Broking plus numerous merger and acquisition deals.
Bruce Planting
BCom – UNISA
BCompt Hons – UNISA
Bruce spent 3 years traveling around the world performing various job functions in his quest to gain a better understanding of the World at large.
After completing his articles at Price Waterhouse Coopers and B.Compt Hons at Unisa he joined Standard Corporate Merchant Bank in the financial manager role. When he left the Bank to join Deros, he was on the eCommerce project and was the product manager for the corporate electronic banking payments engine.
He joined the practice in 2000 bringing with him 10 years Financial, IT and Service Industry Experience.
Bruce has strong financial, strategic and entrepreneurial skills, which together with his years in executive search and business integration strongly adds to the broking side.
Yolanda Davids
BA Psychology – University of the Western Cape
HR Management Diploma – BMT Colleague.
Book-keeping – Varsity College
Yolanda has spent the last 10 years systemising and running the administrative, research and project support management of the business. Often referred to as the engine of the business
Plus
Numerous associate specialists – project specific
A FEW EXAMPLES OF DEALS MANAGED
Deros has participated in numerous deals the last number of years:
• Advisor to the management buyout team of a major call centre business, which subsequently successfully listed at a market cap of R150 million.
• Advisor, short term shareholder and NED to a successful IT recruitment start-up.
• Strategic advisor and project consultant in the establishment of a highly successful Coastal Wooden Flooring business
• Assessment of numerous deals including:
o Management buy-in of a leading textile business from the owners
o Sale of a well know multi-million Rand chemical manufacturing and agency marketing business from the founders
• Investment & establishment of Deros (Pty) Ltd, Business Broking Division, Deros
International (Pty) Ltd executive search trading as Friisberg & Partners Southern Africa
(www.friisberg.com – level 2 BEE)
• Investor & Chairman of Stoak Technologies a unique natural antioxidant & stabiliser additive used in the global alcoholic beverage industry – www.stoaktechnologies.com)
• Strategic advisor to the globally patented dual cap Binutra business (www.Binutra.com)