Ethene is a chartered accountant and a founding member of Fairbridge Capital (Pty) Ltd and has extensive experience in corporate finance and acquisition & leveraged finance. Ethene started his career at Arthur Andersen, where he completed his articles at the end of 1996. After that, Ethene spent 5 years in London with Andersen Corporate Finance where he focussed on M&A advisory work in the mid-market and private equity space gaining extensive experience in MBO’s; LBO’s, corporate divestitures and corporate acquisitions. In 2002 he returned to South Africa, where he joined Ernst & Young Corporate Finance to help establish the M&A team and later became Director of M&A where he gained a lot of experience advising on BEE transactions. In 2004 he joined Investec’s Growth & Acquisition Finance Team where he concluded a number of leading transactions. After Investec, Ethene co-founded and headed up ABSA Corporate & Business Bank’s Acquisition & Leveraged Finance team, which funded mid-market transactions in excess of R2 billion in 2007.
Micky is a founding member of Fairbridge Capital (Pty) Ltd which was established in early 2008. Prior to this, Micky completed his articles at Ernst & Young, Johannesburg in 1998 before moving to London where he spent some time with Credit Suisse and Cavendish Corporate Finance. During his three years at Cavendish, a boutique mid-market sell side corporate finance house, Micky gained valuable experience in MBO’s and the private equity arena and was involved in advising a number of vendors on the sale of their businesses valued at between £10 million and £100 million. On returning to South Africa in 2004, he joined Investec’s Growth & Acquisition Finance team where he was involved in the funding of a number of transactions in the mid-market space, including the early funding of the currently listed Afrimat Ltd. Micky left Investec at the end of 2006 to join ABSA Acquisition & Leveraged Finance, a start up team focussed on the funding of mid-market transactions, where he was responsible for funding the Kulungile Metals Group buyout by a consortium led by Blackstar, and its subsequent purchase of Global Roofing Solutions.
