Black female-owned private equity investor Moshe Capital has acquired a 20% stake in Pragma, an engineering services business that specialises in delivering enterprise asset management services and solutions. The R50-million deal was funded by FNB and takes black ownership of Pragma to 56,8%.
“Moshe Capital partners with African businesses that can compete internationally, so Pragma is an excellent fit for our investment portfolio of mining and related businesses that transform the sector and have potential for growth. It is a homegrown business with a global footprint including an office in Europe, representation in Latin America and partnerships in other geographies. As an active investor, Moshe Capital will add value to Pragma through our sector, strategy and finance expertise,” says Mametja Moshe, founder and CEO of Moshe Capital.
Pragma serves an asset-intensive client base. Founded in 1990, the engineering services business incorporates proprietary technology into operations to monitor the health of assets and more importantly, predict potential failures to act timeously and avoid downtime. Clients span the mining, manufacturing, public infrastructure, oil and gas and original equipment manufacturing sectors. Pragma’s clients include industry leaders such as Anglo, Syntagon and Shell.
“There is an urgent need to address the lack of maintenance and asset management in key industries and we believe that innovative thinking is a competitive advantage. In the male-dominated engineering field, we have seen first-hand how increased participation by women leads to greater innovation.
“Having a 100% black woman-owned investment partner in Moshe Capital boosts the transformation of our business in terms of black ownership. It is an added bonus that we gain access to a forward-thinking female leader with valuable advisory experience as well as expertise in sectors with good growth prospects,” says Adriaan Scheeres, Pragma Holdings CEO.
Both businesses share a commitment to inclusive prosperity. “Pragma’s software and technology systems add tremendous value to asset-intensive businesses and it offers training to boost asset and operational management,” says Moshe.
Pragma has a workforce of over 470 staff, of which 45% are women. There are 29 female engineers, of which 15 are black females.
“Transformation is important in the improvement of enterprise asset management for our clients and as a South African imperative. Pragma has also steadily worked towards transforming ownership and embracing diversity for over 25 years,” says Scheeres.
Another of Pragma’s investment partners is Reatile Group, a diverse investment holding company which covers the full value chain for several leading international companies. Reatile focuses specifically on expansion in the energy and petro-chemical industry.