Who we are
Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE) is one of the largest and most established private equity managers in South Africa and Africa, founded in 2000, to source, invest, manage, and exit private equity opportunities.
We have a proven ability to deliver superior investment returns, together with meaningful impact, by building a diversified portfolio of private equity investments in medium to large companies operating predominantly in South Africa.
We have a successful, 26-year track record across six funds. Since inception, we have invested around ZAR 15 B across 39 transactions and delivered ZAR 40 B in realised and unrealised value over 27 exits. We will be launching our seventh fund during the course of 2026.
*31 December 2025
We have consistently delivered strong returns across multiple economic cycles. We have done so by adopting a proven bottom-up strategy, investing across key industries and sectors in South Africa. While we implement a generalist strategy with no sector targets, we will seek to concentrate on sectors that are at a critical growth inflection point, taking into account the macro economic outlook, industry supply/demand dynamics and the competitive landscape. . We back strong management teams, often through mid-tier growth partnerships, in businesses with market-leading positions, attractive cash generation and a distinctive growth strategy, underpinned by supportive industry tailwinds.
Our strong track record is rooted in three competitive advantages: our highly seasoned team with over 130 years of combined experience, unparalleled networks and ability to source proprietary transactions, and proven investment strategy.
Thanks to an extensive network of business leaders, entrepreneurs, intermediaries and advisers, we have access to unique and highly attractive investment opportunities not readily available to other private equity firms. These relationships, together with our extensive expertise and solid reputation, are behind our strong origination capability. This allows us to avoid competitive auctions and invest at attractive entry valuations.
The sheer scale of our investments places us at the heart of South Africa’s economic development, with the ability to drive growth and transformation in key sectors and industries.
We aim to achieve significant social and environmental impact through our investments by driving growth in, and simultaneously transforming our portfolio businesses, measuring our performance against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (“UN SDGs”). Our fund investments are specifically aligned with the following SDGs:
- SDG 5 Gender equality
- SDG 8 Decent work and economic growth
- SDG 10 Reduced inequalities
- SDG 13 Climate action
- SDG 16 Governance: Peace, justice & strong institutions
The primary OMPE impact thesis within a portfolio company is based on two key strategies, the GROWTH of the business leading to an increase in decent work and economic growth; and the TRANSFORMATION of a business targeting gender equality, boosting black empowerment, developing and implementing best practice governance and taking climate action through decarbonization of the business where feasible opportunities exist. As one of the largest private equity employers in South Africa, we have supported some 28 000 jobs across our recent funds.
The diversity of our team enables different perspectives to form an insightful mosaic view of our investments, improving the quality of our investment process.
78% Black | 33% Black Female
We target those investments with potential to deliver strong long-term returns.
