Sasfin enters new era as an investment-holding company backing its champion businesses

Sasfin Holdings Limited (Sasfin) moves into a new era, having completed the bulk of its strategic reset to focus on its core businesses, Wealth and Rental Finance. Key milestones achieved include the sale of the bank’s capital equipment finance and commercial property finance businesses to African Bank, the closure of its non-core activities, its delisting in December 2024, and the settlement of client deposits, including the seamless migration of Sasfin’s Financial Institution code to Bidvest Bank, ensuring continuity of service for more than 200,000 clients from alliance banking partner, Hello Paisa.

Over the last year, Sasfin has raised over R2 billion of funding from leading South African banks and institutions in the form of securitisation and other debt facilities to support its non-bank SME-focused Rental Finance business. These steps will also enable Sasfin to relinquish its banking licence, a process expected to be finalised in the coming months.

Commenting on the progress made, Sasfin CEO, Michael Sassoon said: “Our reset has been conducted in the face of unprecedented regulatory and legal actions and was guided by four principles: protecting depositors, limiting client impact, meeting regulatory requirements, and minimising job losses. We acted decisively, by exiting non-core activities and raising fresh funding for our Rental Finance business. These steps, together with our delisting, resulted in us pivoting from an integrated banking group to a focused and streamlined investment-holding company, backed by our major shareholders.”

Going forward, Sasfin will focus on building exceptional businesses, operated by top quality management teams, that are value accretive to all stakeholders. At the heart of this are our Wealth and Rental Finance businesses, built over decades, which will now operate as standalone entities under their own brands and management teams.

The Wealth business has built a strong global investment capability across asset classes and has long operated independently with its own board and management team. It is being repositioned under a new name and identity, that will be announced in the coming weeks, while continuing to deliver its full range of investment solutions to enable clients to achieve their investment objectives.  The business remains defined by the calibre of its people, many with decades of tenure, led by an executive team which is acquiring equity in the business. 

The Rental Finance business, Sunlyn, backed by the oldest active securitisation vehicle in South Africa, has successfully transitioned to a non-bank-funded model, with all the necessary facilities in place to provide tailored funding solutions to equipment suppliers and their business clients. Built over decades, Sunlyn has established enduring client relationships, reflecting its reputation for delivering the highest level of service and fostering long-term partnerships. Today, the business stands as the leader in the rental finance market, consistently remaining a strong contributor to business growth across the country.

Commenting on future prospects, Sassoon said, “The past three years have been demanding in the face of the unprecedented challenges we were dealing with, yet we have also experienced much blessing, and through this, we have been able to successfully preserve and strengthen two highly competitive businesses.  Each has further great growth potential, are led by exceptional teams and have been supported through enduring relationships with our clients and stakeholders.”