Delphos International and YW Capital Agree Strategic Partnership

WASHINGTON D.C., USA AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Media OutReach – 12 April 2021 – Delphos International (Delphos) today agreed a strategic partnership with YW Capital. Delphos, a DC-based financial consultancy focused on emerging markets, agreed the deal with YW Capital, a South African financial advisory firm. The agreement is premised on a compelling proposition for investors, entrepreneurs and institutions transacting across the African continent.

Delphos Co-Chair, Bart Turtelboom

Mesh Pillay, Chief Executive of YW Capital

The partnership combines the two firms’ specialisms. Delphos is industry-leading in structuring emerging market transactions and relationships with international Development Financial Institutions (DFIs). YW Capital’s international footprint focuses on long-standing relationships with companies, state-owned entities and governments operating in Africa. The collaboration combines a track record spanning c. US $37bn in capital raised and transaction experience across 86 countries.

Delphos Co-Chair, Bart Turtelboom: “I am thrilled to begin this new relationship between Delphos and YW Capital. YW’s relationships throughout Africa are a great compliment to Delphos’ uniquely strong understanding of DFIs as we work together to unlock capital for projects across the African continent.”

The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the global economy has fuelled a potential redress of business fundamentals, specifically transforming the manner in which investors perceive the relative risk profiles for opportunities in developed and emerging economies. Since the beginning of 2021, expansionary developed market monetary policy, rising commodity prices, and effective COVID-19 vaccines, have been converging to drive global capital flows to emerging markets. This is likely to overshadow the challenging domestic fundamentals among African markets and reboot growth in most economies, supporting local currency assets. Consequently, YW Capital and Delphos have recognised the need for an assimilation of focused business interests, leveraging each other’s independent platforms and perspectives, to foster new commercial opportunities with combined global reach.

Mesh Pillay, Chief Executive of YW Capital comments: “Our partnership with Delphos seeks to develop a premier platform for facilitating international capital raising transactions between corporates and investors seeking quality opportunities within the emerging-and-frontier-markets in Africa.”

Capital flows to emerging markets typically accelerate following global recessions. Entrepreneurs and companies in the mid-to-large cap range based in Africa and seeking a path to new growth funding can benefit from an integrated advisory partner with global reach and direct relationships with like-minded investors.

Similarly, the value proposition for international investors seeking bespoke equity placement and debt capital raising in Africa, is resolute. The combined client universe now benefits from access to international and local DFIs, sovereign funds, pension funds, asset management funds, as well as international family offices and high-net-worth investors. YW Capital and Delphos together present a compelling offer to participants conducting business on the continent. Within this context, the firms believe that the second half of 2021, while not without risk, has the potential to be record-setting for their partnership and for Africa.

While each firm has formidable transaction experience on the continent, there are synergies to be extracted from the partnership which result in enhanced outcomes for their clients.

Despite the continued challenges from the pandemic, USA equity markets have continued a strong level of activity. In particular, both the size and number of IPOs rose sharply in 2020, with disclosed values reaching their highest levels since the global recession more than a decade ago. In addition, a significant proportion of the IPO growth stemmed from the spike in SPAC activity, an increasingly important alternative for African entrepreneurs seeking first time capital allocations. Over the past year, YW Capital has been developing a platform in the USA, offering African companies the potential to directly attract new investor interest, through both the private and public markets. This is complemented by YW Capital’s partnership with Delphos, who, with their USA presence in Washington DC, New York and Miami, contributes a network of offices and relationships in Hong Kong, Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

“Our combined track record and experience creates a comprehensive and compelling offering for our clients � we look forward to further developing the African equity story with the Delphos team,” Pillay concludes.

This exciting collaboration can help companies and entrepreneurs conducting business on the African continent, including inter alia organisations:

• Seeking access to capital, whether through private placement or via public offering;
• Requiring an introduction to strategic stakeholders, including those with financial capital and / or those with non-financial value unlocking potential;
• Exploring growth opportunities, through accretive and acquisitive action;
• Navigating complex equity markets, domestically or internationally, as it relates to any stage of the business cycle.

Institutions and strategic investors can also benefit, especially with the following objectives in mind:

• Seeking deployment of capital on a mandated or bespoke basis;
• Seeking introductions to qualifying opportunities in emerging and frontier markets;
• Assisting in navigating African capital markets to place financial capital within the domestic legal and regulatory environment.