Team

Ernst is an experienced deal-maker with a passion for disruption and innovation.

He began his career in the United Kingdom as an analyst at HSBC Investment Bank. Upon his return to South Africa, he fulfilled various senior and executive management positions, mainly in the commercial property and listed investment sector. During his 10 years in the commercial property industry, he was responsible for the strategic management of a property portfolio worth R5 billion and also took responsibility for property due diligence worth approximately R10 billion.

Ernst always had a passion for deal-making and has been involved in deal negotiations in various countries and different industries. With a passion for deal-making, entrepreneurs and people he founded Dealpoint in 2016, focussing on typical family office type private equity transactions. More recently he joined forces with Gerrit Nortje, CA (SA), a seasoned merger & acquisitions specialist.

Ernst obtained an M.Com (Economics) in 1999 (University of the Free State), completed an Executive Leadership Programme from GIBS (2004) as well as a Property Development Programme from UCT Graduate  School of Business (2006)

Email: ernst@dealpoint.co.za

Gerrit is a merger and acquisitions specialist.

He was trained as a chartered accountant with PKF (Fisher Hoffman Sithole at the time) in Johannesburg.

Post articles Gerrit spent 5 years with Ernst & Young (EY) advisory services, servicing the likes of Old Mutual Investment Group SA, British American Tabaco, South African Breweries and Arvin Meritor. After leaving EY he joined KAP, a listed diversified industrial company for a 7 year period. During this time his designations included: Group Financial Manager and Group Treasury Manager. Gerrit formed part of the head office due diligence team responsible for evaluating new acquisition opportunities for KAP.

After 15 years in the corporate sector, Gerrit made a decision to pursue his passions and aptitude for investment feasibility analysis, company valuations, transaction negotiations and identification of growth opportunities and he started a corporate finance firm called Valeur Investments.

During April 2018, Valeur Investments merged with Dealpoint to form Dealpoint Investment Holdings.

Email: gerrit@dealpoint.co.za

Chris is a chartered accountant with experience in the consumer, retail, logistics, agricultural and SME sectors with specific focus on due diligence procedures. His experience in working for a JSE-listed holding company enables him to combine the structured allocation of capital with potential investments to maximise benefits for all parties in the deal facilitation process.

Chris completed his BAcc and BAcc (Hons) degrees at Stellenbosch University, after which he joined PwC Stellenbosch to complete his traineeship and PwC Netherlands for a secondment. During this time, he gained exposure to both public and private companies in various industries. He is currently enrolled in the CFA program. Chris joined the Dealpoint team as an analyst in 2018.

Email: chris@dealpoint.co.za

Marius is a commercial property specialist with a valuable, relevant skillset and extensive knowledge of nearly all aspects of the industry.

After obtaining his BComm degree at Stellenbosch University in 1987, Marius joined Sanlam Properties. During 2004 he was part of the management buy-out process that transformed Gensec Property Services from a wholly-owned Sanlam subsidiary into an independent company which, over time and through various mergers and acquisitions, expanded to the integrated property services group, Excellerate Property Services (EPS). During his successful career of 33 years, he fulfilled various senior and executive management positions at Excellerate with his last position being the Managing Director of AttX Property Services, a property services joint venture between Atterbury and Excellerate.

With his in-depth knowledge of especially property management, Marius led some of the biggest property management teams in the Excellerate JHI group. In addition to property management, he has also been involved in property valuations, due diligence processes, asset management, leasing and sales, business development and feasibility studies.

Marius also completed an Executive Leadership Programme from GIBS Business School (2004) as well as a Property Development Programme from UCT Graduate School of Business (2008).

During 2020, Marius joined the Dealpoint team to head up the dedicated Dealpoint Properties company. Given the unintended connection between commercial property and general business, be it as a tenant or a property owner, there will be various synergies and value-added services between the Deal Advisory team at Dealpoint Holdings and Dealpoint Properties.

marius@dealpoint.co.za