The long game
Thirty years in one business, and the question nobody asks you.
- Year one
Nobody was going to do it for you.
A customer who paid at sixty days when the terms said thirty, a bank that would not lend, and a reason to keep going anyway.
You did not raise a round. You did not have a deck. You had a few months of runway and something you were sure of.
- Year nine
It started to work.
Revenue became predictable. Costs became controllable. You stopped counting how many months you could survive without a new order.
That is the moment a business becomes an asset rather than a job. Almost nobody tells you when it happens.
- The bad year
Then it nearly didn't.
Two years of profit gone in a few months. You paid the wages out of the bond on your house and you did not tell anyone.
It took years to get back. You got back.
- The long middle
And then it just kept working.
Through a rand that halved, through load-shedding, through two recessions and a pandemic.
Profit you could rely on, and a payroll full of people whose bonds are paid by it.
- Now
You are nearer the end than the start.
The business is worth more than everything else you own put together — the house, the policies, the RA, all of it combined.
And none of it is liquid. You cannot spend a balance sheet.
- The fork
There are three usual endings.
- Sell it wholeTo a stranger, who will run it their way, and rename it inside a year.
- Hand it downTo a child who has their own life, and who you have never actually asked.
- Hold onUntil your health, or the market, or a bad debtor decides the timing for you.
- The fourth
Sell half. Keep running it. Choose your own moment.
We buy 50% of your business at a fair price. We agree a set of rules, and you keep running the business exactly as you do now.
When you are ready to move on, you pull the trigger — we bring in a talented new manager and buy the rest.
- No costa full offer, free
- 5 daysprice and offer
- Personalyou deal with a founder
You're an owner and you've built a business. Now you need to realize value and secure your business's future.
Here's the deal,
- We buy 50% of your business at a fair price.
- We agree on a set of rules, and you continue to run it as you do.
- When you're ready to move on, you pull the trigger. We get in a talented new manager, and we buy the rest.
Here's the process
- 01
Introductory conversation
YOUNothing. Just time.We have a conversation to understand your business and your goals. You learn about who we are, how we operate, and what partnership with Teiken looks like in practice. No obligations.
- 02
Confidentiality agreement
YOUReview and sign the NDA we send over electronically.Before you share anything confidential, we sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement. Nothing you share with us can be disclosed to any third party.
- 03
Initial RFI
YOUFinancials package, shared securely.You send us your financials — as granular as possible: full monthly management accounts going back at least 3 years, annual financial statements (audited if available), and any other financial data you have on the business.
- Monthly management accounts (3+ years)
- Annual financial statements
- Other financial data
- 04
Management interview
YOUOne hour of your time.A focused one-hour conversation. We come prepared with specific questions about the business — its history, its customers, its costs, and what drives performance. This is not an interrogation. It is us trying to understand the business the way you understand it.
- 05
Sign non-binding offer
YOUReview with your advisors. Sign, or walk away.We come back with a single, transparent offer covering both price and the rules of the partnership. The valuation and term sheet are non-binding until the SPA is signed; the exclusivity provision is the only binding part at this stage.
- Valuation + methodology
- Proposed transaction structure
- Term sheet — capital allocation, governance, exit
- 06
Due diligence + SPA
YOUSend us what you have; appoint a lawyer for the SPA review.You provide the information we request — we give you a detailed checklist upfront so you know exactly what to expect. In parallel, our lawyers draft the Sale and Purchase Agreement and your lawyers review and negotiate.
- Financial records and tax
- Customer and supplier contracts
- Employment, legal, regulatory
- 07
SPA signing
YOUSign the final SPA alongside Teiken.Once both parties are satisfied, the SPA is signed. The deal is legally binding, subject to any conditions precedent.
- 08
Conditions precedent
YOUCooperate on regulatory filings and third-party consents.Before payment, agreed conditions must be fulfilled — typically Competition Commission filing if relevant, third-party consents on material contracts, and any other conditions agreed in the SPA.
- 09
Payment & close
YOUBanking details for receipt of the purchase price.Once all conditions are fulfilled, payment is made on the agreed closing date. You receive the purchase price. We become co-shareholders.
Alignment.
We acquire 50% — not the whole business, not a controlling stake, not a minority stub. The reason is psychology, not control. Symmetry signals partnership. You retain autonomy and accountability for the business you built.
80% turns Teiken into a controlling acquirer. 30% gives Teiken too little governance leverage to be a useful partner. 51% reads as extractive. 50% is the brand and the headline — negotiable deal-by-deal in principle, but the symmetry is the point.
What you decide. What we decide together.
Most deals bundle two different powers together: how the business is run, and where the money it makes goes. The first stays entirely yours. The second we agree once, in writing, at the start — while we still like each other — and then the agreement decides, not the loudest person in the room.
Yours alone
- Running the business day to day
- Hiring and firing below C-suite
- Operational strategy
- Pricing, within the agreed budget
- Your title, your office, your team
Agreed between us
- Anything that changes the capital structure
- Large capital spend and sale of major assets
- C-suite hires and what they are paid
- Changes to founder and executive pay
- The annual budget
- What happens to spare cash
- Related-party transactions
- Selling the company
The second list is short on purpose. Every line on it is somewhere a business quietly leaks value — executive pay that drifts upward, hires made for the wrong reasons, cash spent on things nobody sense-checked. None of it is about running your business. We would be worse at that than you are.
What we look for
Good people
You've built your business around people worth trusting. So have we.
A robust business model
Your revenues are predictable and your costs are controllable.
The right size
R20m–R40m EBITDA / profit. Big enough to stand on its own, small enough that we can pay attention to it.
The industry matters less than the cash flow.
If your revenue is predictable and your costs are controllable, we are interested, whatever it is you make or sell. We have no sector mandate and no plans to develop one in our first year.
These are the places that shape tends to turn up.
Specialty distribution
Industrial consumables, building products, agri inputs, food service supplies.
Essential services on contract
Pest control, hygiene, security monitoring, waste management, fire safety.
Niche manufacturing
Where the product needs parts, consumables or servicing. The aftermarket is the business.
Healthcare adjacencies
Suppliers to hospitals, dental and veterinary practices.
Private education and training
Vocational, professional certification, corporate training, affordable private schooling.
Branded food and beverage
Sauces, snacks, beverages, baked goods — where the brand is the moat.
Insurance broking
And adjacent financial services. Commission-based, renewing, sticky.
Vertical software
Software built for one South African industry — logistics, retail, hospitality, agri.
Restaurants and hospitality operations, project-based construction, pure retail, mining and mining services, businesses that lean heavily on government contracts, and startups. Their cash flows are too lumpy, too cyclical, or too dependent on winning the next contract for us to underwrite them.
