Management team
Joint Chairman, Proteus Property Partners
Brian Myerson is executive chairman of the Principle Capital group, which he founded in November 2004, and joint chairman of the Investment Manager.
Brian co-founded Active Value in 1993 and through the Active Value and Principle Capital groups has been a pioneer in activist investing, in the UK, Continental Europe and South Africa. Brian is South African and retains strong links to South Africa, where he has invested personally in a number of property developments.
Brian has been on the boards of several UK property companies, including Greycoat plc (1994 to 1996) and Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group plc (MWB) (2002 to 2005), where he was chairman. When he joined, MWB had gross assets of £650m and owned major property and hotel interests (including the Malmaison Hotel Group) in the UK, as well as a Europe-wide serviced offices business and a majority interest in Liberty plc, the UK department store. Brian oversaw two full refinancings of MWB together with a major asset disposal plan which resulted in the equity market value of MWB rising from £90m in March 2002 (when Brian's appointment was announced) to £170m as at 30 November 2005 (when he stepped down). Brian remains on the board of Liberty plc, of which the Principle Capital group has the right to joint board control with MWB.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and LLB from University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Joint Chairman, Proteus Property Partners
Brian Smith formed Masazane Capital in September 2005 which has taken on a number of prestigious clients. Since its inception, Masazane has been lead adviser on the funding and introduction of an empowerment partner into the listed Vukile Property Fund (transaction value $130m).
Prior to forming Masazane, Brian was head of JPMorgan's Financial Institutions Group based in Johannesburg with responsibility for all activities across all product groups including mergers and acquisitions, debt capital markets, derivatives and treasury services. Brian has been involved in a number of notable transactions in this area including:
- Lead adviser for Barclays Bank PLC in acquiring control of Absa Limited, South Africa's largest bank;
- Empowerment transactions for Absa, Sanlam, Standard Bank, Nedbank and Liberty Life; and
- Several debt capital market transactions including the first ever issue of Tier III bank capital in South Africa for Standard Bank, first ever issue of Tier II insurance capital for Liberty Life and several mortgage securitisations for SA Home Loans.
Brian was also a board member of, and oversaw JPMorgan's investment in SA Home Loans, an independent retail mortgage provider with a mortgage book of over £3.75bn. He is a Chartered Accountant, having qualified at KPMG, and holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Science and a Masters in Commerce from the University of Cape Town.
Chief Investment Officer, Proteus Property Advisors (PPA)
Focused on local deal origination, structuring and execution.
Richard Currie is Proteus Property Advisor's CIO, and was involved in the fundraising and successful flotation of SAPRO on AIM in October 2006. Since then he has set up and jointly run PPA in Johannesburg. PPA is the advisor to Proteus Property Partners, investment manager of SAPRO.
Richard has been an active property developer over many years and, prior to the launch of SAPRO, was managing director of the Currie Group, one of South Africa's oldest property companies. Richard was responsible for identifying property investment and development opportunities on behalf of the group and the management of a number of privately held property portfolios.
Richard is well known in the South African development sector and brings with him a strong network of property professionals active throughout South Africa.
Richard holds an MBA (Construction & Real Estate) from the College of Estate Management at Reading University (UK), a diploma in project management (RICS), and a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Business Economics Real Estate. He registered as a Valuer in training in 1999, and completed the Estate Agents Board Examination in October 1991.
Chief Operating Officer, Proteus Property Advisors (PPA)
Focused on deal origination, structuring, funding and execution.
Keith Wolstenholme is Proteus Property Advisor's COO, and was involved in the fundraising and successful flotation of SAPRO on AIM in October 2006. Since then he has set up and jointly run PPA in Johannesburg. PPA is the advisor to Proteus Property Partners, investment manager of SAPRO.
Keith comes from a corporate finance/investment banking background with JPMorgan. He trained in New York and London after JPMorgan established a local investment banking country team in Johannesburg in 1999. He spent two years in Johannesburg covering the mining and oil & gas sectors, and also worked in JPMorgan's UK mergers & acquisitions team in London for a year. Keith subsequently spent two years as a senior associate with Shield Advisory Services, a UK based corporate finance advisory firm specialising in the sale of companies.
He has been investing privately as a property developer for a number of years with particular experience in the South African residential property market. He has experience in project feasibility studies, financing and overall project management.
Keith is a graduate of the University of Cape Town where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce and postgraduate Honours degree in Economics. He has also successfully completed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) programme, and is a current CFA charterholder.
Development Projects, Proteus Property Advisors (PPA)
Focused on project management.
Philip Trapps joined PPA in April 2008 and is based in Johannesburg.
Philip is a qualified Quantity Surveyor and has over 29 years of experience in the construction and property development industry. He has spent 19 years with the Liberty Property Group where he assumed various roles including Quantity Surveyor, Project Manager, managed the Building Services department, and Head of Development Projects. He has also worked as a specialist construction manager for the South African Reserve Bank. Philip's most recent position was as Head of Facilities at Liberty Properties, where he was responsible for all building projects on behalf of the Liberty Group.
Philip is a graduate of Technikon Witwatersrand (SA) where he obtained a B.Tech (Quantity Surveying). He is a registered member of the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors and of the Project Managers Institute of South Africa.
Analyst, Proteus Property Advisors (PPA)
Focused on structuring, funding and execution.
Dale Smith joined PPA in May 2007. PPA is the advisor to Proteus Property Partners, investment manager of SAPRO.
Dale has a financial management background. He spent over two years as the Group Financial Manager of Gold Reef Casino Resorts Ltd (listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) where he gained experience in financial modelling, deal structuring as well as debt funding amongst other skills. Before joining PPA Dale spent a year as a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) consultant assisting large South African corporates understand and implement strategic BEE initiatives.
He has been investing privately in property in Johannesburg since 2001.
Dale is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand where he obtained his Honours in Accounting. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant having completed his articles with Deloitte in Johannesburg.
