Ethos Mid Market Fund concludes investment into market-leading South African analytics firm

• Torre Industries Limited successfully delisted from JSE and separated into Torre Analytical Services acquired by Ethos Mid Market Fund I and Torre Industrial acquired by Apex Partners
• Torre Analytical Services renamed Synerlytic Group and positioned for future growth as the leading Testing, Inspection and Certification (‘TIC’)

Following the successful delisting of Torre Industries Limited from the JSE in April 2019 and further to the delisting plan, the business was successfully separated into two autonomous entities.  Torre Analytical Services (“TAS”) was acquired by Ethos Mid Market Fund I (“EMMF”) and Torre Industrial (“TI”) by Apex Partners.

In partnership with EMMF, TAS has now been rebranded as the Synerlytic Group, comprising three unique offerings:

• WearCheck – a condition monitoring business, which provides proactive asset maintenance management services across a wide variety of industries such as mining, earth-moving, construction, manufacturing, automotive, power generation, aviation and marine, via a number of specialised analytical methodologies such as fuel and lubricant analysis, vibration and balancing none destructive testing and rope condition assessment. The company is also the accredited in-country oil and fuel testing laboratory for several large global oil companies, plus a number of international OEMs.
• AMIS – an international manufacturer and supplier of a wide range of matrix-matched Certified Reference Materials (CRMs).  CRMs are used to calibrate laboratory equipment, assess the accuracy of analytical methods and processes, and test the overall capability of a laboratory.  AMIS services are predominantly into the mining and agriculture sectors.  AMIS is one of the leading global CRM manufacturers, and the only business in Africa, to hold both the ISO 17034 and ISO 17043 accreditation (which sets out the requirements in accordance with which reference materials are produced, as well as the standards to which Proficiency Testing is administered).
• Setpoint Laboratories – ISO 17025 accredited analytical chemistry laboratory offering a wide range of analytical tests on PGMs and Gold, Light Elements, Uranium and Rare earths, and Water.

Speaking of the newly formed Group, Jon Hillary, Synerlytic CEO said:

“Synerlytic is the TIC market-leader in Africa.  We offer our clients mission critical oil condition monitoring for predictive maintenance, CRMs needed for quality assurance & control, and analytical chemistry services across various industries.  

With 8 labs across South Africa and a further 13 labs in 11 additional countries in Africa and the Middle East, we have an unrivalled regional footprint – even for clients in remote locations – resulting in impressive turnaround times.  

Together with the EMMF, we intend to unlock synergies available as a result of our new autonomous structure.  We also intend to diversify our geographic footprint through executing an organic and acquisitive growth strategy.  Ultimately our new shareholders are aligned to our mission of ensuring our services exceed our customers’ expectations.”

Edward Pitsi, Managing Partner of Ethos Mid Market Fund I, added:

“We identified an exciting opportunity to sperate TAS and TI through the Torre delisting, as the two businesses had little to no synergies as a group.  Once liberated from the group structure, we have been able to optimise Synerlytic’s capital structure, to support our long-term growth strategy. 

Tabane Matheolane, Principal of Ethos Mid Market Fund I, concluded:

“Our partnership and collaboration with Jon and his world-class leadership team, will set Synerlytic up to operate more optimally and offer crucial services to its very well-established and growing customer base.” 

EMMF has a c.90% shareholding of Synerlytic, with management holding the remainder.  The Fund was launched in 2016 and targets investments into high-growth companies that will benefit from the team’s differentiated capabilities to actively optimise strategy, operations and capital structures in partnership with management.  Importantly, the Fund is majority-owned and managed by Black individuals and is thus able to confer significant empowerment credentials to underlying portfolio companies. 

Other EMMF investments include: Autozone, Twinsaver, Eazi Access, Echotel, MTN Zakhele Futhi, Kevro and Gammatek.