Bloomberg, carried by Moneyweb on 20 October 2026, reports on Southern African private equity figures for 2025, drawn from the SAVCA Private Capital Industry Survey 2026. Trade sales, the most common exit route with 27 deals, returned R5.8bn. Total exit proceeds in 2025 were R20.3bn, up 19%. Southern African managers still hold R45.4bn of uncommitted capital.
That is a large pool of money waiting for a home. It will go into companies, and those companies will answer to new owners with new questions.
What the figures say, and what they do not
The report describes private-money deals as rising, with 2025 deal value at R22.4bn. Exits are returning cash to investors, and managers are sitting on dry powder, about twice last year's investment value, that they are expected to deploy. Moneyweb also cites a 17% decline in global private equity fundraising, which it contrasts with fundraising in the region.
The source does not say where the money will go. It says nothing about technology budgets, suppliers or marketing spend. That link is an inference, and I think a sound one. A manager who buys or backs a business expects to sell it later at a higher price, and every large cost line is likely to be examined along the way.
Note too that Moneyweb republishes Bloomberg, so this is one report, not two. The figures are a useful signal. They are not a forecast.
Where an investor looks first
Owners who need a return within a fixed holding period look hard at cost they can cut and growth they can prove. In my view, digital spend sits in both categories. In many large businesses it is spread across several suppliers and is not tied to a single measure of results.
A business with separate agencies for customer experience, marketing, data and technology gives a new owner four invoices and no one answer. Each supplier reports on its own activity. Nobody reports on whether the customer base grew or the cost of winning a customer fell.
That is the vendor sprawl an investor is likely to find in the first review. It is easy to see and easy to act on. My view is that consolidating suppliers is among the quickest ways to lower cost and sharpen accountability.
The case boards should be able to make
Boards of South African and African enterprises have a choice. They can wait for an owner or investor to ask these questions, or they can answer them first.
A prepared board can show four things:
- Every digital, data, marketing and customer supplier, and what each costs.
- Which suppliers overlap, and where two or three firms do the same work.
- Who owns the customer data, and how it is governed.
- What return the spend produces, measured in revenue, retention or cost saved.
A board that can produce this in a week negotiates from a position of strength. A board that needs three months to assemble it hands the agenda to someone else.
Consolidation is not a cost-cutting exercise alone. One accountable partner running customer experience, marketing, data and technology as a single programme removes the handoffs between suppliers. Decisions are made faster and results are measured once, against one target. That is the outcome an investor wants, and it is also what a management team wants.
Prepare before the question arrives
The survey points to R45.4bn of capital that managers are expected to deploy, and no single enterprise controls when or where it lands. What a board controls is how ready it is when the question comes.
Boards should map their supplier base before the next investor asks for it. They should name one executive accountable for digital returns, and they should be ready to say which suppliers they would cut and why.
DSG, with 60+ brands and 28+ years in the market, works with enterprises on exactly this question of one accountable partner instead of many.