EPE Capital Partners, the JSE-listed investment arm of private equity firm Ethos Capital, grew its NAV by 30% to 857c a share in the year to June 2025, powered by strong portfolio growth, a series of realisations and continued balance sheet deleveraging.
On a like-for-like basis that includes last year’s unbundling of shares in investment company Brait, the uplift was even more striking at 61%, with the share price responding in kind, climbing 58% over the period and narrowing its discount to NAV to 22% from 43%.
For a company long dogged by questions about trapped value and limited liquidity, these results vindicated the board’s methodical strategy. As CEO Anthonie de Beer put it, the outcomes were “a function of the strategic choices made by the board, the tremendous execution efforts by my colleagues at Ethos and the hard work by the underlying portfolio company management teams”.
That rear-view mirror is impressive, but the market has already begun to turn its gaze towards the future. Ethos is now a vehicle in the harvest stage of its life cycle, with no new commitments being made to fresh funds. The path ahead is about extracting maximum value from the current stable of assets and ensuring that distributions to shareholders are swift and meaningful.
At the centre of this future lies Optasia, the AI-driven fintech that has grown into more than half of EPE’s NAV. Optasia’s value has surged 84% over the past year, powered by a pivot from airtime advances into microlending, where fees are higher and volumes are compounding at double-digit monthly rates. With a geographic footprint spanning 38 countries and more than 900-million reachable mobile subscribers through its telecoms and banking partners, Optasia still has ample room for growth.
Management has been candid about the concentration risk. De Beer said: “We don’t shy away from that. When a vehicle is realising investments and returning capital to investors, there will inevitably be periods of disproportionate concentration.” At the same time he made it clear that Optasia is the company’s crown jewel, and that the strategy is not to rush an exit but to maximise value in any realisation. This includes an IPO, but other monetisation options are also being considered.
The rest of the portfolio is not insignificant, though inevitably it sits in Optasia’s shadow. Health-care holding Vertice has been quietly transformed through a buy-and-build strategy, with 11 acquisitions consolidated into a growing medtech platform that is now generating cash and paying dividends. A competitive exit process is under way, with potential proceeds targeted by the first half of 2026.
TymeBank remains an exciting fintech bet, having reached profitability in South Africa in under five years — one of the fastest timelines globally for a digital bank — while its Philippine arm, GoTyme, is among the fastest-growing banks in that market.
EPE’s exposure is small but noteworthy, with Tyme’s credibility further reinforced by the recent investment from Latin American heavyweight Nubank.
Broadcasting and media firm Primedia has staged a post-Covid recovery under new leadership, with revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation now on a positive trajectory. “The appointment of an outstanding CEO was a game-changer,” De Beer noted, citing Jonathan Procter’s leadership in driving the broadcaster’s resurgence.
Meanwhile, fintech investor Crossfin is in the midst of a material realisation process that could deliver additional proceeds by 2026.
Of course, not every asset fired. Mobile accessories distributor Gammatek struggled in a difficult consumer environment, forcing a 20% valuation haircut, though dividends still flowed from its branded electronics business. Echotel is exiting its struggling African operations as part of a necessary clean-up, while the South African business remains stable and has attracted a management-led buyout offer expected to conclude in 2026.
These stumbles do little to obscure the broader trend: Ethos is now firmly in distribution mode, with more than R1.2bn returned to shareholders in the past five years, much of it concentrated in the past 12 months.
At the same time the board has emphasised that this pace will not come at the expense of value, committing to patient realisations, avoiding forced sales and channelling proceeds back through buybacks and unbundlings as liquidity events arise. That creates a natural tension: investors want certainty around the Optasia timetable, while management insists that the company will not sacrifice value for speed.
In response to a shareholder question on whether an IPO could lead to an unbundling, De Beer was measured: “We’re exploring all options for Optasia. If an IPO is the chosen route, Ethos Capital will, like other shareholders, either be getting cash out of it, placing a portion into the IPO, but it also will be restricted from selling some of its shares post it.” He added that any proceeds would ultimately be returned to investors, whether through distributions or buybacks.
If the past year proved that the private equity model works when the cycle turns to realisation, the next year will test whether Ethos can convert its biggest paper gains into real shareholder value. The harvest season is well under way, and the yield may yet be a pleasant surprise.
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