Canadian giant buys South African company – whose customers include Pick n Pay, VW and Dis-Chem

 ·15 Oct 2024

Canadian-based Syntax Systems has taken over Argon Supply Chain Solutions.

Argon is a South African and UK-based SAP service provider founded in 2011. It is focused on providing Warehouse and Stock Management services.

It has successfully implemented over 100 warehouse projects and has extensive experience in the Consumer Products and Goods, Manufacturing, Wholesale and Distribution, and Life Sciences industries.

Its customers include Pick n Pay, Sasol, Dis-Chem, Cipla, Heineken, Makro, Builder’s Warehouse, Aspen, Volkswagen and more.

Syntax Systems is a global technology services provider for cloud application implementation and management.

Montreal-based Syntax has 50 years of experience and over 900 customers across the globe.

It has expertise in implementing and managing multi-ERP (Enterprise resource planning) deployments in secure private, public, hybrid, or multi-cloud environments.

Its partners include SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, AWS, Microsoft, and other global technology giants.

“The Argon team is renowned for its market-leading knowledge and Digital Supply Chain excellence through their partnership with SAP,” said Christian Primeau, Global CEO of Syntax.

“By welcoming the Argon team to the growing Syntax family, we are expanding our capabilities and infusing a critical component within our core industry verticals.

“Together, we are growing our services and reach to better serve our respective customers with full implementation lifecycle support for logistics execution.”

Argon co-founders Peter Kerr and David Webb also expressed excitement over the move.

“As part of Syntax, Argon will have additional resources to grow our reach into new markets and industry verticals,” said Kerr and Webb.

“Having worked together in the past, we are confident that our culture fit and growing set of best-in-class capabilities will equally benefit our employees and our respective customers.”

“Together, we are in a better position to further our mission of delivering operational performance improvements to a growing international customer base.”

North American private equity investor Novacap is supporting Syntax’s acquisition of Argon.

Novacap has over C$8 billion (over R100 billion) of assets under management and focuses on middle-market companies in four core sectors: Technologies, Industries, Financial Services and Digital Infrastructure.

“Novacap is proud to support Syntax’s acquisition of Argon,” said Ted Mocarski, Senior Partner at Novacap.

“As committed partners, we are dedicated to advancing Syntax’s leadership in the SAP ecosystem, as well as the application management and cloud services sector.”

“The addition of Argon’s team and capabilities will help empower more businesses in the Consumer Products and Goods, Retail, Manufacturing, Wholesale and Distribution, Mining and Life Sciences verticals.”

Syntax is a portfolio company in the TMT VI Fund of Novacap. Argon is Syntax’s seventh add-on acquisition since its partnership with Novacap began.

International companies still operating in South Africa

Although several companies have notably called it quits in South Africa in recent months, including Shell Downstream and French bank BNP Paribas, several companies are still expanding their operations in South Africa.

When it comes to acquisitions, the world’s largest ticket marketplace, Ticketmaster, acquired South African-based Quicket as part of its expansion into Africa.

Despite launching its platform in South Africa in 2022, Ticketmaster said purchasing the local event and festival ticketing company will support Africa’s rapidly growing live event market.

Qatar Airways also recently acquired a 25% stake in South African regional carrier Airlink to expand operations further across Africa.

The investment in Airlink, which flies between 15 African countries, will result in a code-sharing partnership between the two airlines.

Regarding international brands establishing themselves in South Africa, British coffee chain Pret a Manger, UK-based sports retailer JD Sports, and Airline Norse Atlantic Airways are set to launch there.


Read: Major international airport in South Africa getting new owners

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