Cannon Capital commits capital to South African and African businesses as a principal, and advises owners, boards and investors on their most consequential decisions. We are part of Cannon — alongside an investment manager that has researched and priced risk in these markets since 1998.
Cannon brings together principal investing, advisory and discretionary investment management under one house. Each business runs to its own mandate and its own governance, yet all share a common standard of rigour, discretion and long-term thinking.
A principal investor in private businesses, and an advisor to owners, boards and investors on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, restructuring, valuations and succession. We invest where we can add more than money, and we advise selectively.
how we investA discretionary investment manager founded in 1998, with a disciplined, valuation-led philosophy serving pension funds, insurers, family offices and private clients across South African and global markets. Proudly 100% black-owned and B-BBEE Level 1.
learn moreOur focus is on financial services and asset-backed businesses, industrials, energy and infrastructure, and business services — sectors where the Cannon house already carries relationships, research and operating insight.
Businesses we consider core to Cannon and intend to hold for the long term, taking an active ownership role at board level. Established, cash-generative companies where our participation strengthens both the balance sheet and the shareholder register.
Expansion and buy-and-build capital for companies with proven economics and a management team able to scale. We back organic and acquisitive growth, and we are comfortable as a meaningful minority alongside a committed founder.
Corporate carve-outs, shareholder exits, recapitalisations and situations where complexity, timing or transition creates an entry that patient capital can price. Structured selectively, and only where we understand the downside.
An investee gets access to the Cannon house: transaction and capital markets experience, a boardroom and lender network across South Africa and the continent, empowerment credentials that matter to counterparties, and the research discipline of a manager that has priced assets since 1998.
If you are an owner, founder or intermediary with a business that fits, we would like to see it.
send us the opportunity →We take on a limited number of advisory mandates — enough to stay close to the market, few enough to give each one senior attention. Sitting on the investor's side of the table informs the advice we give.
Buy-side and sell-side mandates, mergers, disposals, management buy-outs, joint ventures and succession — from origination and structuring through negotiation to close.
Equity and debt raising for growth, acquisition finance and recapitalisation, alongside refinancing, lender negotiation and balance-sheet restructuring — connecting clients with DFIs, private capital, banks and institutional investors.
Independent valuations and advisory opinions for transactions, disputes, reporting and governance, grounded in defensible multi-method analysis — with formal fairness opinions provided alongside an accredited independent expert where required. B-BBEE ownership and empowerment structuring on the same basis.
Most advisors are paid to have a view. We are also paid on whether the view was right, because we invest our own capital on the same terms we would put to a client. Where advisory and investment interests could meet, we disclose our position and separate the work by information barriers rather than asking anyone to take independence on trust.
Every market has its own rhythm, its own decision-makers and its own way of doing business. Our roots are in South Africa and our relationships extend across the continent — giving owners and boards genuine local insight backed by a broader perspective.
Cannon has been researching and pricing assets since 1998, through several full market cycles. That discipline — buy the right asset at the right price, look past the short-term view of the herd — is how we test an investment and how we test a recommendation.
We hold ourselves to a single test: would we commit our own capital on the terms we are recommending? Often enough, we do.
The most valuable conversations often begin long before a deal does. Reach out for a confidential, no-obligation discussion — whether you are looking for an investor, an advisor, or a second opinion.
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