BCMS Corporate expands into South Africa

BCMS Corporate is continuing with its global expansion plans by opening its first office in South Africa.

The international M&A specialist has partnered with XIGO to help promote the full range of BCMS Corporate services to prospective clients in South Africa.

Headed by Richard Pople, Andre Bresler and Gavin Scott, BCMS XIGO will run a series of seminars in Cape Town, Johannesburgand Pretoria targeting shareholders of middle-market businesses looking to sell their companies. At the same time it is busy recruiting staff in the country to help manage future business together with additional research consultants at the company’s UKheadquarters outside Newbury, Berkshire.

BCMS Corporate is hoping to capitalise on the huge growth in M&A activity in South Africa recently. Some $11.5bn worth of deals were completed in the first nine months of 2010, the highest, over the same period, since 2007, according to industry analyst mergermarket. What’s more, South Africa is seen as a springboard into the rest of Africa and the team at BCMS Corporate will be targeting those companies looking to enter this marketplace.

The arrival of BCMS Corporate in South Africafollows their expansion into Canadaand the US. The former has enjoyed huge success, most notably the recent sale of Condominium First to FirstService, a global provider of commercial real estate, residential property management and property services, in a multi-million dollar deal. BCMS Corporate now employs over 200 staff across three continents.

Says David Rebettes, Director, BCMS Corporate: “We are absolutely thrilled to have opened in South Africa. It provides huge opportunities for a company such as BCMS Corporate and I am extremely confident that it will give us the platform from which to expand into the rest of Africa. We are already looking at other countries in which we can open further offices in 2011 as we seek to capitalise on the continued recovery of the mid-market M&A sector around the globe.”