40+
Years Of Banking Experience
About Us
Barbet Capital is an independent financial solutions provider.
We provide independent financial solutions that cover both debt and equity. You will find us to be nimble, responsive and boutique as we only take on a small number of clients at any one time.
Independence
Personal relationship with the Barbet Capital team
Quick turnaround times.
Confidence that your investment is well-managed from start to finish
MEET The Team
Experts in finance and banking
James Price
Barbet Capital’s founder and co-principal, James Price (Actuary, CFA), has 22 years’ financial services experience in investment banking (Rand Merchant Bank – RMB), insurance (Old Mutual) and reinsurance (RGA Reinsurance Co of SA). Up until December 2021, James spent 18 years at RMB as a senior dealmaker in the Infrastructure Finance team leading over R25 billion of deals in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. James personally led deals that won the award for best overall deal in RMB three times, as well as winning RMB’s International Deal of the Year. He was awarded The Banker Project Finance deal of the year in 2020 and several African Infrastructure and IJ Global awards for his transactions. He pioneered the use of CPI debt in RMB’s infrastructure team. He is an active member of the SA Actuarial and CFA communities.
Core Competencies
PROJECT FINANCE
Greenfield / Brownfield / Refinancing
CAPITAL RAISING
Senior Debt (incl CPI debt / ECA) / Mezz Debt / Equity
STRATEGIC REVIEWS
Capital structuring and reviews
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENTS
Holding company finance
M&A
Bespoke M&A (including BEE)
FINANCIAL MODELLING
Detailed cashflow forecasting and modelling
Hugh Hawarden
Barbet Capital’s co-principal, Hugh Hawarden (B.Sc.,LL.B.), has 26 years’ financial services experience. Hugh began his banking career in London in 1996 in the risk management support team for the Fixed Income trading desk. He then moved to the structured finance front office, and finished his time in the UK implementing risk management systems for a bank-wide portfolio of various asset classes.
After moving back to South Africa in 2005, he consulted to RMB investigating their private power and renewable energy opportunities. He then joined RMB full time as a lead in the development of the REIPP programme, broadening into more general power and infrastructure projects as a transactor.
Hugh has been involved in several first-of-a-kind transactions, including setting up a blended finance fund for small renewable energy projects, inward DFI green loans for FirstRand Bank Ltd, the first REIPP project to be banked on an EPCM contracting structure as well as a multitude of other renewable energy projects and the Kpone IPP in Ghana (PFI Magazine’s Africa’s Project Finance deal of the year). All have been banked with a mix of Export Credit Agencies, Development Finance Institutions and commercial debt and equity.
Hugh has banked over R20bn worth of projects in the infrastructure sector.
Core Competencies
PROJECT FINANCE
Greenfield / Brownfield / Refinancing
CAPITAL RAISING
Senior Debt (incl ECA) / DFI Finance / Mezz Debt / Equity
STRATEGIC REVIEWS
Capital structuring and reviews
INSTITUTIONAL FINANCE
Fund management, asset management