A consortium consisting of key management members - RMB Ventures, RMB Corvest, Pan-African Private Equity Fund 1 and the Oppenheimer family’s Stockdale Street private equity vehicle - have concluded a management buyout of JoJo Tanks.

JoJo Tanks is South Africa’s leading manufacturer of roto-moulded polyethylene tanks used for rainwater harvesting and general liquid storage. The business was purchased for an undisclosed sum from an Investec Principal Investments-led consortium, as part of a sale process undertaken by Investec late last year.

“JoJo is definitively a market leading enterprise, active in a high-growth niche and led by an exceptional management team, always an attractive combination,” says RMB Ventures’ Amina Pahad.  “

Adds Pahad: “Growth drivers have migrated from purely agricultural applications to much broader domestic use, driven by ongoing constrained bulk water reticulation, specifically in more rural areas. The fact is that 6 of South Africa’s 14 million-odd households do not have access to in-home water reticulation and would benefit significantly from residential rainwater harvesting.”

Regional climatic and infrastructural constraint realities, as well as increasing environmental awareness, are also behind a new wave of demand in metropolitan areas, while government, municipal and NGO service delivery objectives continue to drive even greater rural demand.

“We see JoJo Tanks as one of the key enablers of South Africa’s challenge to preserve water, a limited resource of which greater harvesting and storage is paramount,” says Dr Zuko Kubukeli of Pan-African Private Equity Fund 1.

“The Pan-African team has a very personal understanding of the rural environment, as well as the metropolitan migration dynamic underway, both key to JoJo’s continued success in enabling the national preservation imperative.”  

“JoJo Tanks is a great business, led by a top-quality management team and is well-positioned to address some of the water challenges faced by our country and to provide basic water storage solutions to those who need it most,” says Paul Salomon of the Oppenheimer family’s Stockdale Street private equity vehicle.
According to JoJo Tanks CEO, Rod Cairns,  the deal will enable the business to continue its growth trajectory while, at the same time, making a real difference to people whose lives are adversely impacted by the growing lack of water security.