The board of directors of the Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) has announced the appointment of Lelo Rantloane as its new chairman.
Rantloane, who is the founding CEO of Ata Capital, takes up the position after serving on the SAVCA board for 5 years. He has significant investment banking and private equity experience. Rantloane replaces Craig Dreyer, the former Chief Financial Officer at Ethos Private Equity, who stepped down as Chair in September 2020.
“It is an honour to serve the Southern African private equity community through a strong, established platform such as SAVCA. As an industry body, SAVCA has been successful in promoting the asset class and investment opportunities in the Southern African region among local and foreign investors and the business community. There is, however, still substantial work to do, particularly during the post-Covid era and I look forward to the challenge,” says Rantloane.
Rantloane was the former Head of Debt Capital Markets at Deutsche Bank AG’s Johannesburg Branch. Starting off his career with Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) as a Transactor in Debt Capital Markets, he later became a Transactor in Acquisition and Leveraged Finance where he focused specifically on private equity firms, providing debt and quasi-equity structuring and financing solutions for their acquisitions.
He also served as Executive Assistant to the CEO of the FirstRand group and worked for Morgan Stanley’s Securitised Product Group in London. Rantloane holds an honours degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town and the designation of Financial Risk Manager from the Global Association of Risk Professionals.
“Rantloane is a seasoned practitioner in our industry and SAVCA is privileged to benefit from his leadership skills and investment experience,” says Tanya van Lill, CEO of SAVCA.
The Southern African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) is the industry body and public policy advocate for private equity and venture capital in Southern Africa. SAVCA represents in excess of R185 billion in assets under management through 170 members that form part of the private equity and venture capital ecosystem.
SAVCA promotes the Southern Africa venture capital and private equity asset classes on a range of matters affecting the industry, providing relevant and insightful research, offering training on private equity and creating meaningful networking opportunities for industry players.
