Capitec sold a business for R201 million. It will now give it R1.6 billion.

The Competition Commission has approved the sale of Capitec Rental Finance to Sasfin Capital for R201 million, with conditions. 

As part of the deal, Capitec will provide the business with a secured credit facility of R1.6 billion to fund its ongoing rental receivables book. 

This sale has been in the works for some time, with Capitec acquiring it as part of its 2019 acquisition of Mercantile Bank. 

The purchase of Mercantile Bank kick-started the Stellenbosch lender’s rapid growth into business banking, which now has 686,000 customers. 

Capitec Rental Finance provides asset financing solutions for businesses in South Africa and is a profitable business within the broader bank. 

It purchases movable assets and leases them to corporate and small-business customers, providing access to equipment without high upfront costs. 

However, Capitec told shareholders on 9 July that the business no longer aligns with its core strategic focus and would benefit from a different owner. 

This owner is Sasfin Capital, which is a leading rental finance operator and can provide specialist skills to help scale the business. 

Capitec said this transaction allows the rental finance business to be integrated with Sunlyn, a market leader better positioned to maximise the business’s value.

This transaction has now been approved by the Competition Commission, with the decision being announced on 30 September 2026. 

“The Commission is of the view that the proposed transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market,” it said. 

“To address employment concerns, the merger parties agreed to a moratorium condition on merger-related retrenchments for a particular period.” 

The Capitec Rental Finance business is a small sacrifice relative to the significant growth of the lender’s business banking unit. 

In the six months through August 2026, this division’s headline earnings surged 52% to R609 million, and its client base doubled. 

Business banking is incredibly lucrative and is a large profit pool that has traditionally been dominated by the Big Four of Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, and FNB. 

Capitec has entered the lower end of this market, targeting small- to medium-sized businesses that have historically banked with FNB. 

The upper end of the market, which relates closely to corporate and investment banking, is dominated by Standard Bank.