The R60 Million Threshold: Why DeNovo Focuses on Scale

We are often asked why DeNovo concentrates on transactions typically from R60 million upward. The answer is not snobbery — it is discipline applied consistently.

Below a certain size, the fixed cost of proper screening, legal verification and institutional packaging becomes disproportionate to the deal itself. A thorough ownership and authority check, a defensible valuation, and a properly structured information memorandum take broadly the same amount of work whether the raise is R10 million or R200 million. At smaller sizes, that overhead can make a deal uneconomical to run properly — and an improperly run deal is the one thing we will not put our name to.

Scale also tends to correlate with the kind of project that can absorb institutional capital, attract a credible funding partner, and justify the governance structures that protect everyone in the transaction. Large land parcels, resource projects, agri-energy combinations and infrastructure assets generally sit in this bracket — and that is precisely where our network of funders, investors and strategic partners is strongest.

This is not a judgement on smaller opportunities. It is a recognition that the gateway model only works if every opportunity that passes through it can be screened to the same standard. Concentrating on scale lets us keep that standard non-negotiable.