Kenny Curpen (Director)

Kenny Curpen joined ABAX in 2013, with the responsibility to promote the firm’s private wealth management solutions. He is also responsible for the formation of trust and foundation structures and the day-to-day administration of both trust and foundation structures. Prior to joining ABAX, Kenny held an Assistant Vice-President position with Deutsche Bank, Mauritius, where he was involved primarily in the setting up of trust structures in various jurisdictions. He also has previous experience as a corporate offshore administrator.

Nushrat Budullah (Director)

Nushrat is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom with over 10 years post-qualification experience gained in the finance and offshore sector in Mauritius. She is responsible for corporate reporting at Southey as well as overseeing the tax and compliance matters of the Group.

Prior to joining Southey, Nushrat was the Finance and Treasury Manager at the MIH Group. She is a member the International Fiscal Association as well as a member of the Mauritius Institute of Directors

Barry Wickins (Director)

Barry is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of broad financial, commercial and management experience, covering mechanical engineering and a wide range of manufacturing industries. He has held the position of CEO of Southey Group since 2001 and his qualifications include a B.Com (Rand), C.A. (SA), Advanced Management Diploma from UNISA and attendance at the Senior Executive Programme at the Harvard Business School.

Barry has served on the boards of listed companies in South Africa, including subsidiaries of the Dorbyl Ltd Group, originally part of the Dorman Long Group. He has also served as Managing Director of Babcock Africa in South Africa, which is part of London Babcock Plc.

Peter Ringelmann (CEO)

Peter is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Natal.  Initially joining the group as Financial Manager in 2001, he was appointed Director to the main board in 2003 and Financial Director in 2007.

Before joining the Southey Group, Peter completed his articles at Ernst & Young who transferred him to the USA for a period and he then returned to Corporate Finance in South Africa.

Peter has been part of Southey’s expansion into Africa over the last 14 years and has broad financial, commercial and general management experience in numerous African countries.

Paul Botha (Director)

BA LLB, HDip Tax, HDip Company Law

Paul Botha is a founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Metier. He is an Attorney and Notary Public, having been in private practice since 1986. In 1998 he established an advisory division for Brait and was its CEO until 2003.

Previously he was a senior commercial law partner in the Johannesburg practice of Bell, Dewar & Hall, where he specialised in mergers and acquisitions and cross-border work across a number of industries. Paul has an outstanding record in executing more than 250 corporate transactions, of which the majority have involved private equity transactions and the entrepreneurial multi-disciplinary assignments which Metier targets.

Paul is a committed and effective deal-maker and board member with a reputation for getting things done to the highest standards of professionalism. He represents LMCGF in several portfolio companies.

Grant Howarth (Director)

MCom

Grant Howarth is a director and principal at Metier, in support of the Capital Growth Funds. Grant completed his Bachelor of Business Science in Economics and Masters in Commerce, specialising in financial markets, from Rhodes University.

In 2008, he joined the Monitor Group, an international management consulting firm, during which time he primarily worked in their capital team in support of private equity funds operating across Southern Africa. His responsibilities included managing analysts during a variety of due diligence processes on a number of deals. This allowed Grant to gain exposure to a range of different industries in the region.

As a result of a relationship that was developed with Metier during his time at the Monitor Group, Grant joined Metier in 2009. Since 2009, Grant has been significantly involved in investments in the telecommunications, energy, retail, FMCG, manufacturing, engineering and student accommodation sectors. Further, Grant is playing a coverage role for Metier across Sub-Saharan Africa and East Africa in particular where he represents Metier in a number of investments.

Grant has been a member of the Metier investment team responsible for its investment into Southey since 2015 and has worked closely with management over this period.