Safari Investment Advisory, a boutique consortium launched earlier this year, provides efficient and professional investment advice for safari businesses, combining the experiences and skills of three partners into a synergistic combination.

Founded by Kevin Leo-Smith (safari project development, safari business conservation management), Don Millar (corporate finance) and Steve Raney (legal and corporate finance), the company places special focus on the safari industry in Africa. “The safari industry has never had a boutique corporate and finance investment advisory firm until now,” says Leo-Smith.

“After being involved in the formation of several safari companies over 28 years, it was clear to us, that the traditional corporate and investment banks were not organised nor experienced in the nuances of the safari industry in Africa and we therefore felt there was a gap in the market for Safari Investment Advisory,” adds Leo-Smith.

The company’s focus is on assisting existing and planned safari companies with mergers and acquisitions; transaction leadership, either as a buyer or seller representative; assistance with capital raising and efficient capital structuring; business strategy and business planning; Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) structuring and financing; game ranch selection, development and business planning; large scale project planning and legal frameworks for government and  public-private partnership (PPP) projects. 

Safari Investment Advisory is not an ongoing operations consultancy but works with several specialists in this field that the company can recommend.

The partners each have extensive experience in their various fields.

 Leo-Smith has been involved in the safari industry since 1990 with the conceptualisation and commencement of Phinda Game Reserve, from which Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa), now &Beyond, was born. Later he established Kwando Safaris in Botswana and Zambia with a partner. Leo-Smith has a B.Sc. Agric. degree and has extensive experience in the conceptualisation and establishment of large-scale sustainable development and tourism projects throughout Africa.

Millar (CA SA) is a Director and Co-Founder of Clarity Group and established and ran an independent corporate finance advisory firm for six years. He also worked at Bridge Capital from mid-1999 to December 2001 and before that, as a consultant in the Corporate Finance division at Deloitte & Touche. Over the past 13 years, Millar has built up significant experience and expertise. He has a broad skill set in traditional corporate finance transactions, but has particular expertise in private equity transactions, capital raisings, valuations and mergers and acquisitions.

Raney was the Executive Partner of the Johannesburg office of international law firm White & Case LLP. He was also a partner in the corporate practice at Deneys Reitz (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and before that a partner at Cliffe Dekker & Todd (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr). He now practises in his family-owned law firm with his wife under the name D’Arcy-Herrman Raney. Raney has over 30 years’ experience in legal practice and practises in local and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A), capital markets and private equity, corporate governance, banking and finance, mining, energy and environmental law. For many years he has achieved consistent international recognition for outstanding work in M&A, environmental and energy law. Raney has a strong personal interest in corporate environmental law and has done much of the ground-breaking work in regard to the commercialisation of state-owned nature conservation assets as well as the development of the eco-tourism market in southern and South Africa. He is a recent recipient of the WESSA 90 Lifetime Achiever Award for his contribution to the environment.

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