Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine debt fund manager, announced that it has fully exited its investment in Seaton Estates (“Seaton”), a residential coastal development located on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. The promoter of Seaton is Collins Residential, the residential arm of a diversified group with interests in the real estate, hospitality, and agricultural sectors, both in South Africa and internationally.
The Seaton development sits on prime property with direct access to a kilometre stretch of beach frontage. The development comprises 1,150 opportunities made up of 600 single residential stands and 22 planned urban developments, offering a further 550 sectional title opportunities. The development is designed to be an eco-conscious coastal estate characterized by wild grasslands, ocean views and rehabilitated indigenous forests. Facilities include a country club with multi-disciplinary sports, an equestrian centre with arena’s and stabling, direct beach access and 26km of walking, running and bridle trails through rehabilitated natural forest and grasslands. Later stages of the development will include commercial mixed-use nodes offering retail, education, and office facilities. The development is near the popular leisure towns of Salt Rock and Ballito.
Vantage first invested in Seaton in January 2022 by arranging R360 million of mezzanine funding for development of initial phases of common use infrastructure and bulk services (primarily for single residential units). After a 4-year investment period, Vantage has been fully exited through a combination of sale proceeds and a senior debt refinance by FedGroup.
Werksmans acted as legal counsel for Vantage.
Roshal Ramdenee, Partner at Vantage Capital, said “This investment demonstrates how structured mezzanine capital can unlock large-scale infrastructure development in complex residential projects. Our funding enabled the timely delivery of critical bulk infrastructure, which in turn supported strong sales momentum and value creation across the estate. We are pleased to have partnered with Collins Residential on a high-quality coastal development and to have achieved an outcome that reflects both the strength of the underlying asset and disciplined execution over the investment period”
Luc Albinski, Executive Chairman at Vantage Capital, added “Seaton Estates marked the first investment of our Fund IV program and set the tone for what we aim to achieve. From the outset, we partnered with an exceptionally entrepreneurial KZN-based group known for executing large and complex developments. Despite the disruptions of the KZN riots, extreme weather events, and unavoidable approval delays, the partnership remained resilient. Collaborating with such a professional and committed team has been a genuine pleasure.”
Jon De Bufanos, Financial Director at Collins Residential added “Vantage Capital’s mezzanine funding played an important role in supporting the delivery of key infrastructure during the early phases of the Seaton Estates development. The funding structure gave us flexibility during a challenging period, while allowing the project to continue progressing in a measured and disciplined way. We appreciated Vantage’s practical, collaborative approach throughout the investment period and their contribution to the development of Seaton.”
Africa Fact: 40% of Africans now live in urban areas.
Sun Leo
Vinny Lingham was an internet entrepreneur before South African venture capitalists were even investing in the internet. He emigrated to the US to pursue his business dreams and launch Yola. In 2007, he raised USD5 million. Lingham went on to found a few more internet businesses including incuBeta and Gyft, which he sold from more than R500 million. He\’s currently working on his latest business Civic, which is an identity protection and management start-up. Vinny Lingham put his weight behind the Silicon Cape Initiative, to increase South Africa\’s global competitiveness and place the Cape on the global entrepreneurial map. He went on to become one of the \”dragons\’ on the South African edition of Dragons\’ Den, as well as one of the \”sharks\’ on M-Net\’s Shark Tank.