Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal // February 2015

FEBRUARY 2015 · Year 24 No 249
Sale to Chinese investor achieves key exit
Loan funding challenges end $872m
public to private bid
New Zealand firm invests in trans-Tasman
timber pulp business
Image: oOh! Media digital
advertising billboard in a
shopping centre.
Story page 6.

Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal FEBRUARY 2015 · Year 24 No 249 | 2
CONTENTS
EDITOR’S LETTER
Local market out of step 3
NEWS
Mobile phone services infrastructure
stake for sale 20
Medical device commercialisation
graduates win scholarships 21
NEW FUNDS & FUNDRAISING
Global IT business backs local early
stage venture firm 11
New female-focused angel fund will
seek to raise $20m 12
Private equity firm sets up fund to
invest in listed small caps 13
Canadian pension fund backs
Australian manager’s infrastructure
strategy 16
US retirement fund allocates to
Australian manager 17
PERFORMANCE
Sale to Chinese investor achieves
key exit 5
$166m float enables partial exit 6
Trade sales to provide exits for pre-
global financial crisis investments 6
Emerging markets investors to
receive strong returns from
telecoms deal 8
Dispute puts local operations of
private equity investee in
administration 10
Private equity stake reduced in
partial ASX float 10
Confectionary turnarounds end in
administration 14
US brands business buys iconic
surfwear company 20
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Loan funding challenges end
$872m public to private bid 5
New Zealand firm invests in trans-
Tasman timber pulp business 5
International alternative assets firm
in $1bn services spin-off 6
Sovereign wealth fund co-invests in
retirement villages 8
Corporate venturer makes cloud-
based technology investments 12
US venture firm invests in online
shoe design business 14
Lower mid-market firm invests in
Sydney bus operator 14
Global private equity firm builds on
Australian acquisition 15
Sovereign wealth fund invests in
waste gases conversion technology 15
Overseas firm moves to full
ownership of retail chain 16
US firm leads $10m investment in
cancer drug delivery system 17
$2m for commercialisation of
therapeutics development
technology 17
Produce business back in Australian
ownership 18
Mining technology and services
specialist makes first investment 20
Listed insurance broking group to
acquire rehabilitation business 22
International firm makes first
investment in Malaysia 23
PEOPLE MOVES
Former AVCAL chairman takes on
wealth management role 22
Listed equities manager appoints
former private equity figure 22
Local innovator recruits former
executive of private equity-backed
company 23
Leading investment banker
steps down 23
INFORMAL VENTURE CAPITAL
Corporate venturer backs online
neighbourhood social network 18
Investment available for advanced
manufacturing 18
New peer-to-peer lending venture
plans private capital raising 19
Accelerator to take start-ups
to China 23
Coming Events
Coming Events 27
Shares Chart
Shares Chart 28
FEATURES
REARVIEW MIRROR 25

AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE
EQUITY & VENTURE
CAPITAL JOURNAL
Owned and Published by
PRIVATE EQUITY MEDIA
PO BOX 510, Five Dock,
NSW 2040
P: 02 9712 1350
www.privateequitymedia.com.au
MANAGING EDITOR
Adrian Herbert
P: 02 9712 1350
M: 0407 226 142
E: adrian.herbert@
privateequitymedia.com.au
NATIONAL ADVERTISING
MANAGER
Philip Thomson
P: 02 9489 0033
M: 0419 757 211
E: pthomson@
marketingforesight.com.au
DESIGNER
Odette Boulton
Australian Private Equity &
Venture Capital Journal is an
Independent publication. The
Journal welcomes editorial
contributions. All opinions are
those of the authors. All material
copyright Australian Private
Equity & Venture Capital Journal
and individual authors.
ISSN number: 1038–4324
Editor’s Letter
W
e reported in December on a
surprising downturn of interest
in allocating to private equity by
Australian institutional investors.
This appears all the more surprising
compared to global trends.
A recent report by UK-based alternative
investments research company Preqin
indicates strong global interest in private
equity.
Preqin found that globally 75 per cent of
respondents were satisfied with the returns
they were receiving from their allocations
to private equity and a further 17 per cent
were more than satisfied as their returns had
exceeded expectations.
According to Preqin, of particular note
in 2014 was the improvement in venture
capital performance. Previously tarnished by
generally underwhelming returns for all but
a few managers since the dot-com bubble
burst the early 2000s, venture capital
returns registered a one year horizon IRR to
June 2014 of 25. 9 per cent, the highest of
all private equity strategies.
Some institutional investors appeared to
have taken note of this turnaround with 26
per cent of those surveyed in December
intending to commit to venture capital
vehicles in the next 12 months, a considerable
increase from 15 per cent year earlier.
Turning to the views of private equity fund
managers, surveyed by Preqin in November,
57 per cent said they had experienced
an increase in investor appetite over the
prior year. Only 12 per cent said they had
experienced a decrease.
Private equity investing in 2014 was the
strongest internationally since the global
financial crisis in 2008 but fund managers
were hoping to invest even more this year
with 55 per cent saying they expected their
investing to be up on 2014 and 35 per cent
saying they expected to invest a similar
amount to 2014.
Through 2014, $US332 billion had been
invested in buyout deals and $US86 billion
in venture capital deals.
Fundraising was seen as the biggest
challenge by managers with 31 per cent
listing it as their primary concern however
26 per cent were already in the market to
raise a new fund while 37 per cent were
planning start fundraising in 2015 and 12 per
cent had it pencilled in for 2016.
Australia is clearly out of step in attracting
new commitments to private equity from
local institutional investors. Similarly we are
out of step with our rate of investing.
But in other respects we are on trend.
Over the last 18 months or so local private
equity managers have achieved successful
exits at a dizzying pace including quite a
number which had appeared problematic
only a year or two earlier.
Interest of overseas private equity and
venture capital firms in investing in Australia
has been strong over the last 12 months
indicating that there is value in our market,
particularly in businesses which offer
exposure to growing Asian markets.
This year the focus for Australian
managers should swing back toward
investing and raising new funds. It is to be
hoped that overseas institutional investors
will see the value in investing in Australia
through local fund managers.
ADRIAN HERBERT
Managing Editor, Australian Private Equity
& Venture Capital Journal
LOCAL MARKET
OUT OF STEP

Wherever you are, you’re never that far from
an experienced private equity team
You may be aware of our experienced and highly rated
Australian private equity team. You may be less familiar with
our global private equity team which can assist with all your
offshore needs.
Whether you are considering acquiring a business with
offshore operations, looking to refinance in offshore markets
or negotiating an exit to an offshore buyer or via a listing on
NASDAQ, our global team can assist. We have offices in over
50 cities and offer private equity experience in all established
markets around the world.
Contact: Richard G Lewis, Head of Private Equity - Asia Pacific
r.lewis@nortonrosefulbright.com
+61 2 9330 8092
Law around the world
nortonrosefulbright.com
North America | Europe | Asia Pacific | Middle East | Africa | Latin America

PERFORMANCE
Sale to Chinese investor
brings about key exit
Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) has exited
cinema operator Hoyts Group with a sale
to an investment vehicle controlled by
Chinese billionaire Sun Xishuang.
No financial details have been announced
but the deal is believed to be worth at least
$800 million.
Sun is the chairman and largest
shareholder of real estate development
and sales group Dalian Yifang Group. The
company acquiring Hoyts is British Virgin
Islands-domiciled investment fund ID
Leisure which was set up by Sun.
The deal was announced by Hoyts on 23
December.
As well as his holding in Dalian Yifang
Group, Sun is also a major shareholder
in Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties
which is majority-owned by Wang Jianlin,
China’s second richest man. In 2012 Wang
bought the second largest cinema chain
in the US, AMC Entertainment, for $US2.6
billion and has attempted to buy stakes in
US film production and studio companies
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lions Gate
Entertainment.
Hoyts Group chief executive Damian
Keogh said he was looking forward to
development of the business under its new
owners.
“Hoyts is embarking on a number of
exciting opportunities and together with
ID Leisure, we will continue to invest in the
exceptional customer experience currently
offered to 20 million attendees annually,”
he said. “Innovation and expansion will be
a focus.”
Hoyts is Australia’s second largest
cinema chain measured by the number of
screens it operates. The company also has
cinemas in New Zealand plus the Hoyts
Kiosk DVD distribution business and cinema
advertising business Val Morgan.
PEP acquired Hoyts in December 2007 in
a deal which valued the business at $440
million. The vendors were then ASX-listed
Packer family-controlled Publishing and
Broadcasting Limited and West Australia
Newspaper Holdings, now Seven West
Media (ASX: SWM).
In late 2010, (APE&VCJ, Oct 10) Hoyts
acquired Australian Multiplex Cinemas.
In 2012 Hoyts sold its Australian and
New Zealand film distribution business
to European film distributor StudioCanal
(APE&VCJ, Jul 12).
In May 2013 (APE&VCJ, Jun 13), Hoyts
accessed $US450 million on US debt
markets enabling it to refinance its debt
and pay a dividend to PEP.
In early 2014 PEP engaged investment
bank UBS AG to run a dual-track sale
process for Hoyts. An IPO had been
expected to target raising around $900
million. The exit focus is believed to have
shifted to a trade sale as the IPO market
weakened toward the end of the year.
PEP is the only Australian private equity
firm which focuses on investments around
the billion dollar mark. Little more than a
year ago the firm was holding most of the
large investments of its 2008 vintage PEP
IV fund. Since December 2013 the firm has
exited, or substantially exited, a succession
of major investments.
PEP floated Veda (ASX: VED) in
December 2013, Spotless (ASX: SPO) in
May 2014 (the largest private equity float
since TPG and Blum Capital floated Myer
in 2009) and Asaleo (ASX: AHY) in June
2014. Peters Food Group was sold to
European company R&R Ice Cream in June
2014 and Griffin’s Foods to Philippines-
based Universal Robina Corporation in
August 2014.
PEP IV still holds significant investments
in American Stock Transfer and Trust
Company, Xtralis and Link Market Services.
The firm is believed to have achieved a
first close in excess of $1 billion for PEP V
early in 2014. Total commitments of more
than $2 billion, plus around $1 billion in
co-investment capital, are believed to have
been made since then but a final close has
not been formally announced.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Loan funding challenges end
$872m public to private bid
An $872.1 million private equity consortium
proposal to acquire heavy engineering
company Bradken (ASX: BKN) has been
shelved with the consortium unable to
obtain satisfactory loan funding.
Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) and Bain
Capital Asia spent months working on the
bid with Bradken during 2014.
Bradken announced on 5 December
that it had received an indicative $5.10 per
share offer from the consortium. In the
announcement Bradken also revealed that
the private equity firms had made a $6 per
share indicative offer in August. Bradken’s
board had granted due diligence then but
no firm offer had resulted.
On 11 December, Bradken reported it had
also received other acquisition enquiries
but did not give any further details.
Then on 28 January, the company
announced bid discussions had ended
because “recent volatility in global
commodity and financing markets had
impacted on the consortium’s ability
to obtain financing” on acceptable
terms. This was despite the consortium
concluding confirmatory due diligence to
its satisfaction, according to Bradken.
Newcastle-based Bradken said it
would now concentrate on returning
to profitable growth through recently
announced initiatives including acquisition
of a world class foundry in Tamil Nadu,
India, and rationalisation of overall
foundry operations. The acquisition and
rationalisation costs are to be debt funded
but are expected to cut annual costs by
$27 million by July 2015 and by $53 million
by the 2017 financial year.
INVESTMENT ACTIVTY
New Zealand firm invests
in trans-Tasman timber
pulp business
New Zealand’s largest private equity
manager, Maui Capital, has acquired a 50
per cent stake in trans-Tasman wood chip
and paper pulp company Pedersen Group.
The founding Pedersen family retain the
remainder of the business which is run by
second generation managing director Paul
Pedersen.
The deal was completed on 19
December. No financial have been
released.
The Rotorua-based company operates
wood chip and pulp mills in New Zealand
and Australia, a wood chip plant in Fiji
and two paper mills in Australia. Pedersen
Group employs about 180 people.
PricewaterhouseCoopers New Zealand
investment banking arm served as financial
advisor to Pedersen on the deal.

The investment is from Maui’s second
fund, Maui Capital Aqua which raised
$NZ250 million in 2012.
The firm’s first fund, Maui Capital Indigo,
raised a similar sum in 2008 and has since
been fully invested.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
International alternative
assets firm to invest in $1bn
spin-off
International alternative assets manager
Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO)
is to take a half-stake in the spin-off of
services operations of Leighton Holdings
(ASX: LEI).
The deal, announced on 17 December,
values the businesses at $1.075 billion.
Thiess Services and Leighton
Contractors Services are to be merged
in the spin-off. Thiess Services includes
communications, energy solutions,
asset and infrastructure services and
environmental services divisions.
Leighton Contractors Services includes
Visionstream and an infrastructure
services division. Apollo and Leighton
Holdings will each hold 50 per cent of the
new entity, The Services Business.
Leighton Holdings is to receive about
$700 million in cash from the deal which it
will apply to reduce its debt.
The company has been seeking to
reduce debt and simplify its operations
since Spanish-controlled Hochtieff took
control in March 2004. Leighton Holdings
also announced in December that it was
selling its John Holland construction
business to China Communications
Construction Company.
Senior partner, and head of Asia Pacific
for Apollo, Steve Martinez said the funds
manager looked forward to working with
The Services Business team to grow a
world-class company providing industrial
and civil services.
Leighton Holdings executive chairman
and chief executive, Marcelino Fernándes
Verdes, said the decision to spin off the
services businesses would maximise
opportunities in the growing industrial and
civil infrastructure services sector.
“By choosing to partner with funds
managed by Apollo, a leading global
investment management firm, we gain
access to Apollo’s expertise in creating a
single, integrated and efficient business
which will be better able to compete in the
Australian marketplace,” he said.
The deal would enable Leighton
Holdings to maintain exposure to the
growing services market with its longer-
term contracts and steady cash flows,
he added.
Leighton Holdings said The Services
Business will be one of the largest services
operations in Australia with annual revenue
of more than $2.2 billion and work in
hand worth about around $4 billion. The
business will have a skilled workforce of
about 6,400.
The Services Business will provide
operational maintenance, design and
construction, remediation, and asset and
facilities management services to clients
across the resources, telecommunications,
transport, energy, water, health and
industrial sectors.
Completion of the deal is subject to
regulatory approvals including from the
Foreign Investment Review Board and New
Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office.
Apollo has one other significant
Australian investment, Nine Entertainment,
which is valued at around $400 million.
Apollo had assets under management of
about $US164 million as at 30 September
spread across private equity, credit and
real estate funds.
PERFORMANCE
$166m outdoor advertising
float enables partial exit
CHAMP Private Equity has sold down its
stake in outdoor advertising company
oOh!Media from 75.7 per cent to 32.2 per
cent (48.3 million shares) in an IPO.
About 86.1 million shares (57.8 per cent)
were offered at $1.93 cents a share raising
$166.1 million.
The enterprise value of $365.5 million
at the offer price represented 9.1 times
the 2014 calendar year forecast earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation (EBITDA).
The company was listed on the ASX
on 17 December as OOH!Media Limited
(ASX: OML).
OOH!Media continues to be led by
founder and chief executive Brendon Cook.
CHAMP remains the largest shareholder
retaining its reduced stake under voluntary
escrow.
Advertising and marketing services
business WPP, which sold down from
20.3 per cent to 12.9 per cent, is also
retaining its stake under voluntary escrow.
Management shareholders sold down
their combined 4 per cent stake to
2.1 per cent in the float.
CHAMP and WPP will be able to dispose
of up to 25 per cent of their remaining
shares after the company releases half-
year results to the end of June 2015.
The shares opened on the ASX at
$1.80, a 6.7 per cent discount to the offer
price and, despite a subdued market
closed at $2.05 on 30 Jan.
CHAMP bought a 9.01 per stake in
then ASX-listed oOh!Media in late 2011
(APE&VCJ, Dec 11). The private equity
firm acquired the rest of the company’s
shares in early 2012 and then privatised
the business.
In late 2012 (APE&VCJ, Nov 12)
CHAMP bought Ten Network Holdings’
(ASX: TEN) outdoor advertising business
EyeCorp for $113 million with payment
of up to $15 million of that price deferred
for three years. EyeCorp was then
merged with oOh!Media to create a
company which is now the market leader
by revenue in Australia’s out of home
advertising media sector. OOH!Media is
a leader in digital innovation in outdoor
advertising. Digital innovation is expected
to significantly increase outdoor
advertising’s share of the total Australian
advertising market which is worth
$13.4 billion annually.
PERFORMANCE
Trade sales to provide exits
for pre-global financial
crisis investments
International trade sales will enable Lazard
Private Equity Australia and Navis Capital
to complete exits of substantial assets
acquired before the 2008 global financial
crisis (GFC).
Japanese company Recruit Holdings
is to acquire recruitment companies
Chandler Macleod Holdings (ASX: CMG)
and Peoplebank, respective investees of the
private equity firms.

REDISCOVERING THE OPPORTUNITIES IN PRIVATE MARKETS
4-6 March • The Westin Sydney
12th Annual Private Equity & Venture Forum
Australia &
New Zealand 2015
EXC
LUSIVE
O
FFER
Book
now
and
SAVEAU$315
(discountcode
PEM
_O
Z_15)
Aberdeen Asset Management Asia • AlpInvest Partners • ATP PEP • Baring Private Equity Asia • Bessemer Trust
• Capital Dynamics • CPPIB Asia • Development Bank of Japan • First State Super • FLAG Squadron Asia •
Funds SA • Future Fund • GE Capital • HarbourVest Partners • Hermes GPE • HOSTPLUS • IFM Investors •
Leyland Private Asset Management • MassMutual Life Insurance Company • Media Super • MLC Investment
Management • Nationwide Insurance • Northgate Capital • Oaktree Capital Management • OPTrust Private
Markets Group • Pantheon Ventures • Pathway Capital Management • PGGM NV • QIC • Quentin Ayers •
StepStone • Sunsuper • Telstra Super • Top Tier Capital Partners LLC • Wilshire Private Markets •
... and we expect 90+ limited partners at the event!
In partnership with:
BOOK
NOW
EMAIL Audrey Reisdorffer at audrey.reisdorffer@incisivemedia.com
CALL +852 3411 4706 N.B Don’t forget to quote the discount code PEM_OZ_15
Join
your peers
#avcjausnz
Scan this
QR code with
your mobile phone
to review the event
latest updates
avcjausnz.com
Senior industry professionals confirmed to speak include:
Limited partners who have already confirmed their attendance:
Clive Boyce
Investment Manager
FUNDS SA
Robert Credaro
Head of Growth Assets
FIRST STATE SUPER
Jessica Archibald
Managing Director
TOP TIER CAPITAL PARTNERS
Suzanne Tavill
Managing Director
STEPSTONE
Natalie Meyenn
Head of Private Equity
MLC
Benjamin C. Gray
Managing Partner
TPG CAPITAL
David Simons
Director, Private Equity
FUTURE FUND
Neil Stanford
Investment Manager -
Private Equity
HOSTPLUS
Michael Weaver
Portfolio Manager
SUNSUPER PTY LTD
Marcus Simpson
Head of
Global Private Equity
QIC
Ben Frewin
Managing Director
ARCHER CAPITAL
Tim Martin
Partner
CRESCENT CAPITAL
PARTNERS
Padmanabh (Paddy) Sinha
Managing Partner,
Private Equity
TATA CAPITAL
John Haddock
Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer
CHAMP PRIVATE EQUITY
Simon C. Moore
Managing Director
THE CARLYLE GROUP
For the latest programme and
speaker line-up, visit
avcjausnz.com

Recruit is Japan’s largest recruitment
business and one of the world’s largest. The
company is pursuing a strategy of
international expansion, mainly by acquisition,
with the objective of making it the global
leader in its space within five years.
Recruit says both companies will
continue to operate independently.
Lazard Carnegie Wylie, Lazard Private
Equity Australia’s parent company, is one
of the largest shareholders in Chandler
Macleod with a 12.36 per cent stake having
sold down from 43 per cent in 2013.
Chandler Macleod announced on 14
January that it had entered into a scheme
implementation deed with Recruit for
Recruit to acquire the company for
$290.4 million (53 cents a share) cash via
a scheme of arrangement. A scheme of
arrangement requires more than 75 per
cent of shareholder votes to be cast in
favour of the acquisition. A vote has been
scheduled for March.
The deal will involve Recruit taking over
Chandler Macleod’s debt which amounted
to $76.19 million as at 30 June 2014.
Chandler Macleod has reported it
has made progress under a turnaround
strategy over the past few years. Difficult
trading conditions in the 2014 financial
year, however, saw underlying after tax net
profit fall 22 per cent to $14.2 million with
underlying earnings before interest, tax,
debt and amortisation (EBITDA) down 11
per cent to $40.2 million.
Announcement of the deal saw Chandler
Macleod’s shares jump from 29 cents to the
offer price. They closed just above the offer
price at 53.5 cents on 30 January.
Recruit’s corporate adviser on the
Chandler Macleod acquisition is Greenhill
Australia and its legal adviser Baker &
McKenzie. Chandler Macleod’s corporate
adviser is Moelis & Co Australia with
Herbert Smith Freehills acting as legal
adviser.
Lazard Private Equity Australia acquired
a 43 per cent stake in Chandler Macleod in
2008. In March 2013, the private equity firm
sold down its stake to 14.43 per cent selling
90 million shares to institutions and high
net worth investors for $50 million.
Recruit is to make a full acquisition
of Navis investee Peoplebank for $68.6
million. Peoplebank announced the deal
on 15 January. Kuala Lumpur-based Navis
is the majority shareholder in Peoplebank
with founder and current chairman Leon
Lau holding a substantial stake.
Navis expects to achieve a return of
capital on the exit rather than book a profit.
Lower business investment in IT
following the GFC resulted in the business
failing to grow at the rate the private equity
firm had anticipated.
Peoplebank is Australia’s largest
specialist IT recruiting firm and expanded
into other Asia-Pacific region markets
under Navis.
But chief executive Peter Acheson
argues the business is positioned for
growth. “Peoplebank is a very strong
business. In the past few years we have
increased market share and have grown
the business into Asia,” he said.
Navis acquired a significant stake in then
ASX-listed Peoplebank through a shares
placement in February 2008 (APE&VCJ,
Feb 08). In the deal, Navis invested about
$50 million for a stake of around 48 per cent.
The capital injection was used for
Peoplebank to acquire competitor Ambit
Group creating Australia’s largest IT
recruitment business.
Navis then increased its stake and
privatised the business in 2009.
PERFORMANCE
Emerging markets investors
to receive strong returns
from telecoms deal
Telstra (ASX: TLS) is to pay $US697 million
to acquire Asian telecommunications
provider Pacnet Limited from Ashmore
Investment Management, Spinnaker Capital
and Clearwater Capital Partners.
The deal, announced on 23 December,
will effectively double Telstra’s global
enterprise services business in Asia.
The acquisition includes Pacnet’s interest
in a joint venture in China, PBS, which is
licensed to operate an internet protocol
virtual private network and data centres
across 23 provinces.
Telstra says the acquisition of Pacnet
will give it ownership of an extensive range
of services including software defined
networking, an expanded data centre
network and an extensive network of
submarine cables. The deal will also give
Telstra access to important new customers
across the Asian region.
Telstra plans to fully integrate all of the
Pacnet operations, except the China joint
venture, to maximise operating and capital
synergies.
The deal is subject to regulatory and
Pacnet financier approvals and mid-year
completion is expected.
Pacnet has headquarters in Singapore
and Hong Kong and offices throughout
the region including in Sydney. The
business was formed in 2008 by the
merger of the operations of Asia Netcom
and Pacific Internet.
Pacnet’s core assets are an integrated
network of data centres and submarine
cables across the Asia-Pacific region
which provide services to communications
carriers and enterprise customers in 61
cities. The business also has operations in a
further eight cities in the US and Europe.
Pacnet operates Asia’s largest privately-
owned submarine cable network - with
more than 46,000 kilometres of cables
- which has landing points in China, Hong
Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore,
South Korea and Taiwan. In addition, the
company controls two of the five fibre pairs
on the Unity trans-Pacific submarine cable
network connecting Japan and the United
States.
Pacnet reported earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA) of $US111 million on revenues of
$US472 million for the 2013 financial year.
Ashmore Investment Management
and Spinnaker Capital are UK-based
emerging markets investment managers.
Clearwater Capital Partners is a New York
and Hong Kong-based special situation
investor which focuses on the Asian region.
Ashmore was created by a management
buyout of ANZ Banking Group’s emerging
markets fund management business
in 1999. Parent company, Ashmore plc
(LSE: ASHM), listed on the London Stock
Exchange in 2006.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Sovereign wealth fund co-
invests in retirement villages
The $NZ27 billion New Zealand
Superannuation Fund has linked with listed
investment fund Infratil Limited (ASX: IFZ,
NZX: IFT) to acquire retirement villages
operator RetireAustralia from JP Morgan

Global Special Opportunities Group and
Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing.
The total value of the deal is $640.2
million with the partners providing cash
equity of about $214.8 million each (total
$429.5 million) and the rest being funded
by existing bank debt on RetireInvest’s
balance sheet. The total includes estimated
transaction costs of $23.5 million and is
subject to usual completion adjustments
for working capital and net debt.
After these adjustments, the acquisition
price represents the estimated
net tangible assets (NTA) value of
RetireAustralia.
The deal was announced on 24
December and settled on 31 December.
RetireAustralia is to be managed for the
investors by infrastructure manager HRL
Morrison & Co.
New Zealand Super chief investment
officer Matt Whineray said the sovereign
wealth fund was pleased to be increasing
its exposure to the retirement village
sector in Australia.
“The sector’s attractive demographics
and future growth opportunities make it a
good fit for long term investors such as the
NZ Super Fund,” he said.
Infratil chief executive Marko Bogoievski
said RetireAustralia offered very attractive
long-term growth prospects. With 28
villages across NSW, South Australia and
Queensland, the business had potential to
become the sector leader.
“RetireAustralia is led by an
experienced management team and
comes with a strong development
pipeline and a mature existing portfolio.
Underlying EBIT (earnings before interest
and tax) for the June 2015 financial year
is forecast at $35-40 million,” he said.
RetireAustralia chief executive Tim
Russell said his preference had always
been to find investors like New Zealand
Super and Infratil that had the necessary
experience and access to capital to
enable the business to maintain a long-
term focus as it entered the next phase of
its growth.
Minter Ellison acted a legal advisor
for the investors and Greenwoods and
Freehills for the vendors.
Infratil already has an investment in
Metlifecare, one of New Zealand’s leading
providers of retirement and aged care
facilities.

PERFORMANCE
Dispute puts local operations
of private equity investee in
administration
Six companies which make up the
Australian business of Jones the
Grocer have been put into voluntary
administration as a result of dispute
between its private equity investor and
other key shareholder.
Overseas branches, which are believe to
generate up to 75 per cent of Jones the
Grocer’s revenues, are unaffected.
The Australian companies were put
under control of the business recovery and
insolvency division of accountancy firm
PKF Lawler on 12 December.
Jason Stone, Glenn Franklin and
Petr Vrsecky of PKF Lawler are now
administrators of the Australian business
which is continuing to trade.
Jones the Grocer was established as
an upmarket grocery store in Woollahra
in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in 1996.
Melbourne businessman John Manos
bought the business in 2005 and took its
concept to Singapore and the Middle East.
The head office is now in Melbourne.
Singapore-based L Capital Asia took a
50 per cent stake in Jones the Grocer in
July 2012 (APE&VCJ, Sept 12). L Capital
Asia is one of several private equity funds
sponsored by Paris-based luxury brands
group LMVH.
At the time of L Capital Asia’s
investment, Jones the Grocer had recently
acquired Becasse Bakery and Charlie and
Co hamburger store in Sydney plus the
Jones the Grocer franchise in Singapore.
The business already had operations in the
Middle East and planned further expansion
in South-East Asia.
After the Australian business was placed
in administration in early December,
lawyers Arnold Bloch Leibler issued a
statement on behalf of Manos saying L
Capital Asia’s investment in Jones the
Grocer had been intended to provide a
platform for further growth but a difference
in vision at board level had affected the
strategic approach of the group.
“I am now focused on finding a solution
to these differences with L Capital Asia
so we can maximise the value for all
our stakeholders including long-term
customers, suppliers and staff,” Manos said
in the statement.
A statement on behalf of L Capital
Asia, issued by public relations firm Cato
Counsel, said Manos had resigned as
sole director of the Australian operations
on December 10. On appointment, new
director Mark Watson had determined the
need to appoint a voluntary administrator.
“L Capital Asia continues to see strong
potential in the Jones the Grocer business
and will be supportive of plans that
allow for the continued operations of the
business,” the statement said.
Jason Stone of PFK Lawler said the
Australian business owed about $4.5
million plus employee entitlements. The
stores were continuing to trade and a
creditors meeting was to be held.
On investing in Jones the Grocer, L
Capital Asia managing partner Ravi
Thakran said he believed the business had
a concept with great potential to expand
across Asia. He anticipated five-fold
growth over five years could be achieved.
L Capital Asia continues to show strong
interest in Australian-founded luxury
goods businesses with potential for Asian
expansion.
The firm’s most recent Australian
investment was in swimwear company
Seafolly (APE&VCJ, Dec 14). L Capital Asia
also recently moved to full ownership of
“bush outfitter” RM Williams (see separate
item this issue) and has a stake in sports
apparel business 2XU.
PERFORMANCE
Private equity stake reduced
in partial ASX float
Smaller companies private equity firm
Anacacia Capital has reduced its stake in
translation technology company Appen
in an IPO for about 32 per cent of the
company (30 million shares).
The share offer was completed in late
December and Appen listed on the ASX
on 7 January with Anacacia remaining the
largest shareholder.
A total of 94.6 million shares in
Appen (ASX: APX) were on issue at the
completion of the offer.
The Anacacia Partnership 1 LP fund
initially held just under 36 per cent of
Appen (33.8 million shares) but has since
transferred 4 million of those shares to its
new listed companies Wattle Fund (see
separate item this issue).
Appen co-founder and now chairman
Chris Vonwiller holds 17.2 million shares,
former managing director and now non-
executive director Bill Pulver, 8.8 million,
managing director Lisa Braden-Harder 1.8
million. None of those shareholders reduced
their holdings in the offer. Other members
of the management team held 2.3 million
shares at the completion of the offer.
All of these holdings are subject to
voluntary escrow arrangements restricting
disposal until after the release of Appen’s
financial results for the year to the end of
December 2015 but allowing for up to 25
per cent to be disposed of earlier if the
shares trade at 20 per cent above the offer
price for an extended period.
The 50 cents a share IPO raised $15
million giving the company an enterprise
value of $44.9 million. This was 6.6 times
2015 financial year forecast earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
Appen recorded earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA) of $6.5 million on revenues of
$60.5 million in the 2013 financial year
but is forecasting EBITDA of $5.3 million
on revenues of $49.1 million for the 2014
financial year with a recovery the following
year. The company is expected to release
a performance update at the end of this
month (February).
Appen shares opened after listing at the
offer price of 50 cents and closed the first
day up 5 per cent at 52.5 cents. The shares
topped 62 cents briefly early in January
and closed at 56 cents on 30 January.
With the bulk of the company’s earnings
coming from the US, Appen appears an
attractive investment with the Australia
dollar predicted to fall further against the
US dollar.
Established in Sydney in 1996, Appen
now employs about 150 people mainly in
Australia and the US.
Anacacia made an expansion capital
investment in Appen in 2009 (APE&VCJ,
Nov 09) after the company had won NSW
and Australian Exporter of the Year awards
in the ICT category in 2008.
Appen acquired US company Butler Hill
in 2011 and Wikman Remer in 2012. The
company is now about five times the size
when Anacacia initially invested.

Intelligence on companies, deals and
multiples for private equity professionals
• Detailed financials for millions of private and public
companies worldwide
• The most comprehensive deal database
• Original documents and filings
• Deal source documents
• Unrivalled corporate structures and ownership data
• Trading multiples for listed companies
• Stock data, earnings estimates and detailed forecasts
• Reliable transaction multiples - pre and post deal
• Private equity intelligence and portfolio searching
• Bespoke comparable templates using our Excel Add-In
• Integral analysis tools including volume and value tables
bvdinfo.com
sydney@bvdinfo.com
02 92 233 088
Comprehensive M&A deals and rumours
Company information around the globe
Appen’s earnings have always come
mainly from exports and the proportion of
US sales was significantly increased by the
acquisition of Butler Hill.
Global IT business backs local
early stage venture firm
Global IT hardware business Cisco Systems
has made an investment in venture capital
firm Blackbird Ventures. While the amount
has not been disclosed, it is believed to be
in the millions of dollars.
Cisco is Blackbird’s first corporate
investor, with the rest of the fund investors
made up of individuals, mostly tech
founders and investors.
The investment is expected to enable the
early stage specialist to increase stakes in
its current investees and make a few more
new investments.
Announcing the investment on
11 December, Cisco Australia’s chief
technology officer Kevin Bloch said
Blackbird had been formed with the
backing of founders of some of Australia’s
most successful start-ups. These included
the founders of Atlassian, Campaign
Monitor and Aconex - and some of Silicon
Valley’s top investors such as Bill Tai and
Dave McClure.
Blackbird partner Bill Bartee outlined
how the Cisco investment came about:
“When we explained to the team at Cisco
what we believe in at Blackbird, they saw
that our activities and some of our portfolio
companies aligned with their strategy. They
see that the SaaS (software as a service)
companies we invest in all run in the cloud,
that our investments in Internet of Things
companies fit their Internet of Everything
focus, and that the rich set of relationships
we have can help them build their brand in
the Australian start-up ecosystem.”
Bloch said Australians and New
Zealanders had a wealth of ICT skills and
had proven themselves adept at identifying
market opportunities.
“We have recently seen significant
momentum among local start-ups
and early stage companies and our
announcement is the first part of a multi-
phase plan to foster this growth and invest
in this region,” he said.
Cisco’s investment would also give
Blackbird’s portfolio companies access
to cutting edge Cisco technologies very
early in their life-cycles. The international
company’s involvement with a local venture
capital firm would also improve Cisco’s
visibility to the Australia and New Zealand
start-up community far more effectively
than the company could do on its own,
Bloch added.
Niki Scevak, partner at Blackbird
Ventures, said: “Blackbird was set up to
create a community of founders helping
other founders. It’s a fantastic development
to have a corporation like Cisco that has
such an entrepreneurial heritage and
culture, joining the community.”
Formed in 2013 by Scevak, Rick Baker
and Bill Bartee - with Silicon Valley-based

John Scull on its investment committee -
Blackbird raised just under $30 million for
its initial fund in early 2013 (APE&VCJ, Apr
13). Since then about half of the fund has
been invested in 14 core investments plus
another 25 smaller investments through
the associated Startmate accelerator
program.
One investment has already been exited.
Fitness coaching smartphone app Sessions
was acquired by US health and fitness
platform My FitnessPal early last year.
Rick Baker says it is still early days
for the portfolio but a number of the
companies have come out of the gates
strongly, for example Shoes of Prey
recently raised a round from Khosla
Ventures (see separate item this issue),
Safety Culture has attracted Scott
Farquhar (co-founder of Atlassian) as an
investor, Ninja Blocks has raised a next
round from Optus Innovate and Citrix while
Canva has raised a follow-on round from
US venture firms Matrix, Shasta Ventures
and others.
Blackbird Ventures will be raising a
second fund this year.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Corporate venturer makes
cloud-based technology
investments
Telstra’s (ASX: TLS) corporate venturing
arm Telstra Ventures has made two new
investments in cloud-based software
technologies.
An unspecified minority investment in
cloud-based business process guidance
software company Panviva will be used to
accelerate product development and boost
international sales and marketing.
Announcing the investment on 10
December, Panviva chief executive Ted
Gannan said Telstra’s backing would be
pivotal for product advancement and
penetration of new markets.
Current users of Melbourne-based
Panviva’s SupportPoint technology include
BT, Bupa, Westpac, ANZ and Telstra.
Telstra global enterprise and
services executive director Michelle
Bendschneider said a reseller agreement
would allow the telecommunications
major to provide Panviva solutions to
its customers.
Telstra led a $15.5 million Series D
investment in Elemental, a US-based
leading supplier of software-defined.
UK digital television company Sky also
invested in the round along with existing
investors according to an announcement
by Elemental on 23 December.
Telstra Ventures managing partner Mark
Sherman said demand was increasing for
content to be provided across multiple
devices and Elemental was moving this
process from hardware to software and
into the cloud.
He said the investment would be
followed up by a commercial agreement
which would enable Telstra to integrate
Elemental’s technology into services such
as IPTV, Foxtel on T-Box, AFL, NRL and
BigPond movies.
New female-focused angel
fund will seek to raise $20m
Female-focused angel investor network
Scale Investors is planning to raise a
closed-end investment fund of at least
$20 million.
Scale was established in Melbourne in
March 2013 and now has more than 60
angel investor members.
The Scale Women’s Fund will have a
mandate to invest in a balanced portfolio
of 15-20 early stage - under $2 million
valuation - female-led high growth
companies. Preferred investments will be
ventures based on disruptive innovation
which have defensible channels to market.
Initial investments will typically be non-
controlling minority stakes of around
$500,000, and the fund will have capacity
to make follow on investments.
Chief executive Laura McKenzie said
Scale had developed strong deal flow and
set up rigorous assessment processes.
Investment enquiries from more than 300
female-led businesses had been reviewed
to date and a total of nearly $2.5 million
had been invested in five companies.
Scale sets a high bar for its investments.
At least five network members must
be prepared to invest, and one must be
prepared to lead the investment, before
any deal goes ahead.
It is planned that the Scale Women’s
Fund will co-invest alongside these angel
investments as a tax advantaged Early
Stage Venture Capital Limited Partner
(ESVCLP) registered vehicle. The fund is
scheduled to have non-obligatory first
rights to invest up to 50 per cent of the
amount companies seek to raise through
the Scale network.
As the manager of The Scale Women’s
Fund, Scale will not charge management
fees as a percentage of committed funds
but will instead maintain an operating
budget transparently accounting for all
expenses incurred.
McKenzie stresses that the focus
on female-led companies is based on solid
evidence of strong investment returns
and an underserviced investment sector
rather than a social agenda to address
gender bias.
This opportunity is being recognised
around the world and a number of new
funds focused on women entrepreneurs
were launched in the US and Asia during
2014, she said.
McKenzie points to the US-published
Diana Report, Women Entrepreneurs
2014 as further evidence. Lead author Dr
Candida Brush states in the report: “There
is an enormous untapped investment
opportunity for venture capitalists
smart enough to look at the numbers
and fund women entrepreneurs. Only a
small portion of early-stage investment
is going to women entrepreneurs yet
our data suggests that venture capital
funded businesses with women on the
executive team perform better on multiple
dimensions.”
The Scale fund will target an average
return of 2.5 times investment for each
portfolio company and an overall return
of up to 20 per cent annualised over ten
years – in line with current US and UK
returns benchmarks for angel groups’
investing.
Exits are more likely to be via trade
sales rather than through private equity
or venture capital acquisitions or IPOs,
McKenzie said, but this will substantially
widen the range of opportunities to
achieve targeted returns.
Scale was set up by business women
Susan Oliver, Annette Kimmitt and Carol
Schwartz inspired by the US Golden
Seeds network. They also recognised that
with only about 2 per cent participation,
women were less involved in angel

AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE
EQUITY HANDBOOK
The first professional practise guide specifically for the Australian
private equity industry is now available directly from Private Equity Media.
Order Australian Private Equity Handbook by Nick Humphrey
(CCH Australia Limited RRP $95.00 inc. GST) now.
Simply visit: www.privateequitymedia.com.au and click on “Subscribe” in the green toolbar to buy online.
Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal subscribers qualify for a special discount price of
$85.00 inc. GST.
We will mail your hard copy book as soon as your payment is processed.
Australian Private Equity Handbook is a plain English guide to professional private equity practise in
Australia covering major aspects of deal making and the establishment of a private equity fund.
Order your professional
practise guide
investing in Australia than in the US
or the UK.
Oliver is an experienced company
director and chair, Kimmitt is global leader
for middle market at Ernst & Young, and
Schwartz is an experienced company
director and business entrepreneur. All
three were active angel investors before
setting up Scale.
The Victorian Government, through
the Department of State Development,
Business and Innovation, has committed
to back the venture with funding of up to
$600,000 over three years. Scale is also
supported by PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Norton Gledhill and Morrows. Angel
investors pay $2,000 a year to be
members of the network.
Scale angels have invested in mobile
phone technology through Paloma Mobile
(APE&VCJ, Feb 14); image recognition
trademark search technology, Trademark
Vision; social media development
marketplace, CloudPeeps; and two other
companies, details of which are to be
announced shortly.
Private equity firm sets
up fund to invest in listed
small caps
Smaller companies-focused private equity
firm Anacacia has established a fund to
invest in listed small cap stocks.
Anacacia managing director Jeremy
Samuel said the new open-ended Wattle
Fund had been planned to be very small
with an initial minimum size set at $10
million but the fund quickly attracted $30
million in commitments after launching
in early December without any formal
fundraising promotion.
The minimum $5,000 commitments
came from Anacacia’s existing investor
base, a mix of superannuation funds,
corporate chief executives, high net worth
individuals and family offices.
Anacacia has recruited Tom Granger
as portfolio manager of the Wattle Fund.
Granger was formerly an associate
portfolio manager at listed equities
investment manager NAOS.

Other members of the Anacacia
investment team will assist with identifying
investments and managing the portfolio.
The fund will invest up to $5 million in
“minority but influential” stakes in companies
with market caps of $20-$200 million.
Anacacia has seeded the fund with
four million shares in its investee Appen
(ASX: APX) which partially listed on the
ASX in January (see separate item this
issue). These shares are part of Anacacia’s
total retained stake of 33.8 million Appen
shares.
Samuel said this investment illustrated
the opportunity for the fund to follow on
investing after listing in companies which
had been successful as private equity
investments and, unlike a closed-end
private equity fund, there would be no
time limits on investments.
He said there was limited analysis
or other information available for the
small and medium-size Australian listed
companies that the Wattle Fund would be
targeting but this meant that identifying
those which would perform best should
generate very high returns.
The fund will also restrict its investing to
profitable companies with revenues of up
to $400 million and annual earnings before
interest, tax and amortisation (EBITDA) of
$5 million to $25 million.
Speculative sectors such as pre revenue
biotechnology and small resources
companies will not be considered.
Anacacia’s initial research found there
were 555 ASX-listed companies in its
target range (which excluded a larger
number of smaller companies).
Stocks in this bracket had outperformed
the S&P/ASX300 over the past three years.
While broad market movements accounted
for 40 per cent of this performance, the
rest was the result of good management
and exploiting new markets.
Anacacia planned to identify the top
2 per cent of these stocks as potential
investment targets.
Samuel said he was excited to have
the opportunity to extend Anacacia’s
internationally recognised success
in private equity (in 2011, alternative
assets research company Preqin ranked
Anacacia’s first fund, Anacacia Partnership
I, the leading performer globally among
2006-2008 vintage buyout funds)
into the listed sector. The Wattle Fund
would utilise themes that had helped
Anacacia’s success to date such as
identifying founders who might soon
be seeking to exit holdings ahead of
retirement and providing growth capital
for companies planning acquisitions. It is
anticipated that the current capital of the
Wattle Fund will be fully invested by the
end of the year.
Meanwhile, Samuel said successful exits
from Anacacia’s first fund had kept it on
target to be wound up as one of the global
top performers of its vintage.
Anacacia Fund II closed its fundraising at
an above target $150 million in mid-2013.
Samuel said the fund was so far about
one-third invested. Investments so far
were healthcare equipment company K
Care, Yumi’s Quality Foods and Careers
Training Group, all of which were already
returning dividends.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
US venture firm invests in
online shoe design business
Blackbird Ventures investee Shoes
of Prey has raised $US5.5 million in a
Series A investment round led by Silicon
Valley-based venture capital firm Khosla
Ventures.
Other new investors in the round
include former Sequoia Capital partner
David Spector and his co-founder in US
online lingerie store ThirdLove Heidi Zak
plus Andy Dunn, chief executive and
co-founder of US online menswear store
Bonobos.
Blackbird Ventures also participated
in the round along with other existing
investors including Atlassian co-founder
Mike Cannon-Brookes and US early stage
investor Bill Tai.
Shoes of Prey has previously raised
a total of $4.75 million in Australian
fundraising rounds in 2012 and 2013.
The latest fundraising sees Shoes of Prey
co-founders Jodi Fox, Michael Fox and
Mike Knapp reducing their combined stake
in the business to just under 50 per cent.
Launched in 2009, Shoes of Prey
operates an online platform that enables
customers to design their own shoes
which it then has made and dispatched
to the buyer. The company more recently
began rolling out design studios in
department stores such as David Jones in
Australia and Nordstrom in the US.
Shoes of Prey sees the design studios
as promotional vehicles for its online
services as well as an additional branch of
the business.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Lower mid-market firm to
invest in Sydney bus operator
Next Capital is to acquire a majority stake in
Sydney northern beaches area bus operator
Forest Coach Lines.
Financial details of the deal -
foreshadowed in December APE&VCJ
- have not been released but it is believed
to value the business at a little under $50
million. Completion of the transaction is
subject to government approvals.
The deal, agreed on 8 December, backs
a management buyout with the vendors
the Royale family which has owned Forest
Coach Lines for 85 years.
Current joint managing director David
Royale will be chief executive under
the new ownership and will maintain a
significant minority shareholding.
Royale said he welcomed Next Capital’s
investment, the lower mid-market private
equity firm’s first in the Australian public
transport sector.
Next Capital, however, has experience
in the sector in New Zealand. The firm
invested in New Zealand bus operator Go
Bus in mid-2012 and exited the business
with a sale to Maori investment trusts in
August 2014 (APE&VCJ, Sep 14).
Royale said he expected Forest Coach
Lines’ reputation for high quality customer
service delivery, high patronage growth and
efficient operations - combined with the
Next Capital’s significant experience in the
New Zealand bus sector - to position the
company for significant future growth.
Greenstone Partners acted as financial
advisers to Next Capital and management
investors.
PERFORMANCE
Confectionary turnarounds
end in administration
Two Melbourne confectionary businesses
were placed in voluntary administration

in January bringing to an end turnaround
attempts by the local arm of UK
restructuring firm Hilco Capital.
Australia’s oldest chocolate maker Ernest
Hillier went into administration first, just
under a year after acquisition. Capricorn
Licorice producer Betta Foods, which
Hilco acquired less than four months ago,
followed about a week later.
Both companies have been put under
the administration of Bruno Secatore
of Melbourne insolvency practitioners
CorCordis. The businesses are continuing
to trade and are to be offered for sale as
going concerns.
After acquiring Betta Foods, Hilco,
which trades as Re:Capital in Australia, had
planned to cut costs by running the two
businesses together.
North Coburg-based Ernest Hillier -
which also produces confectionery under
the Newman’s brand - employs about 60
people, has retail and wholesale operations
and turns over about $11.1 million a year.
The company’s customers include major
supermarket chains but its operations are
not large enough to achieve the benefits
of scale of large chocolate makers such as
Cadbury’s.
Re:Capital acquired the equity of Ernest
Hillier Pty Ltd in February 2014 from
members of the Piedimonte family - of
Melbourne’s Piedimonte’s supermarkets
- who wished to focus on other business
interests.
Hilco refinanced a portion of the secured
debt of the business as part of a balance
sheet restructuring.
Executives from Melbourne corporate
advisory firm Henslow Partners took
senior management roles and were initially
supported in a turnaround process by
operational specialists from Hilco’s UK team.
Re:Capital acquired the equity of Betta
Foods Australia in October 2014. The
Broadmeadows-based confectionary
manufacturer employs about 180 people
and turns over about $40 million a year.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Global private equity
firm builds on Australian
acquisition
TPG Capital, PAG Asia Capital and their
co-investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension
Plan, have made a follow-on investment in
the US after completing the acquisition of
commercial real estate services business
DTZ in November.
The new acquisition is Chicago-based
property services firm Cassidy Turley.
TPG managing partner Ben Gray
sad the consortium was excited about
bringing the two businesses together.
January, DTZ said it created a global
top-three commercial real estate services
company as DTZ was already well
established in Europe and Asia.
No financial details of the transaction
have been released but DTZ said the
merged business would have annual
revenues of around $US2.9 billion.
Cassidy Turley chief executive Joseph
Stettinius Jr. is now DTZ chief executive
of the Americas under global chief
executive Tod Lickerman.
Brett White, a former chief executive
of the world’s largest real estate service
firm CBRE Group, is to become full time
executive chairman of DTZ next month
(March). He is also an investor in the
private equity consortium.
UGL (ASX: UGL) announced in June
(APE&VCJ, Jul 14) that it was to sell
its DTZ property services division to
the private equity consortium for an
enterprise value of $1.215 billion. UGL said
at the time that the division had annual
revenue of more than $2 billion.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Sovereign wealth fund
invests in waste gases
conversion technology
The New Zealand Superannuation
Fund has made a $US60 million direct
investment in gas fermentation company
LanzaTech.
Chicago-based LanzaTech turns waste
gases from steel mills into ethanol and
other high value fuels and chemicals.
LanzaTech, which was founded in New
Zealand in 2005, is a pioneer of gas
fermentation and is targeting to put its first
commercial plant into production next year.
The New Zealand Super Fund’s head
of international direct investment Nigel
Gormly said: “LanzaTech is one of the
most exciting companies New Zealand has
produced, with significant global potential.
We’re proud to continue the New Zealand
connection and to be able to assist in
LanzaTech’s ongoing growth.”
LanzaTech chief executive Jennifer
Holmgren said the company was
“tremendously excited” to include the NZ
Super Fund as one of its investors.
“Our roots and hearts are in New Zealand
and this investment will allow us to expand
and develop our global platform, increasing
our ability to play a part in New Zealand’s
energy future,” she said.
The LanzaTech investment is one of a
series of expansion capital investments in
early stage growth companies made by
the $NZ27 billion New Zealand Super Fund
in recent years.
Gormly said expansion capital
represented only around 1 per cent of the
NZ Super Fund’s investments but was an
appropriate part of the mix.
“The fund is well diversified and
expansion capital’s risk/return profile is a
good match for growth oriented investors
with a long time horizon,” he said.
Other NZ Super Fund expansion
capital investments include stakes in
US companies Bloom Energy and Ogin
Inc. Bloom Energy has developed new
generation solid oxide fuel cell power
generators, and Ogin manufactures small-
scale high-efficiency wind turbines for
power generation.
Gormly said the fund had been attracted
to LanzaTech because the company
provided exposure to the waste-to-energy
sector.
“We are actively diversifying into
alternative and non-conventional energy
alongside traditional energy investments,”
he added.
Silicon Valley-based Khosla Ventures
remains the largest shareholder in
LanzaTech.
Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 venture
capital fund was one of LanzaTech’s
first investors. Sir Stephen said the NZ
Super Fund investment was a key step in
continuing the company’s progress and
global expansion.
“LanzaTech has an important social
contribution to make in reducing air
pollution and at the same time turning
waste gas into valuable products,” he said.
LanzaTech has now attracted more
than $US160 million in investment capital.

Other investors include Qiming Venture
Partners, Malaysian Life Sciences Capital
Fund, Petronas, Mitsui, Siemens and China
International Capital Corp.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Overseas firm moves to full
ownership of retail chain
Singapore-based L Capital Asia has paid
$50 million to move to full ownership of
“bush outfitter” retail chain RM Williams.
L Capital Asia acquired the 50.1 per cent
stake of former News Australia Ltd chief
executive Ken Cowley and his family in
October.
L Capital Asia paid $50 million for a 49.1
per cent stake in 2013 (APE&VCJ, May 13)
with an option to acquire the remainder.
L Capital Asia is one of several private
equity managers sponsored by Paris-
based luxury brands group LMVH.
McGrath Nicol Services was financial
adviser and Johnson Winter & Slattery
legal adviser to L Capital Asia on the deal.
NEW FUNDS & CAPITAL
RAISINGS
Canadian pension fund
backs Australian manager’s
infrastructure strategy
One of Canada’s largest pension funds
has committed $US200 million to AMP
Capital’s new global infrastructure strategy.
The commitment has been made by
Ontario Pension Board (OPB) which
manages the province’s defined benefit
Public Service Pension Plan.
The commitment also involves co-
investment rights.
AMP Capital is planning to raise
$US2 billion for the closed-end global
infrastructure strategy launched last year
(APE&VCJ, Nov 14). The strategy has
been seeded with $US750 million worth
of assets from AMP Capital’s open-ended
Strategic Infrastructure of Europe Fund.
OPB Private Markets managing director
Glenn Hubert said: “We were impressed by
AMP Capital’s long and successful history
in infrastructure investment as well as
the ability to gain exposure to multiple,
high quality assets through the global
infrastructure business. We’re pleased to
partner with AMP Capital through this
commitment, particularly as it grows its
presence in North America.”
AMP Capital’s infrastructure equity
investment team is based in New York.
The firm’s head of Americas,
infrastructure equity, Dylan Foo, said:
“There are an increasing number of
investment opportunities in North
America making it an important region
for AMP Capital as we grow our business.
We continue to focus on mid-market
opportunities where we see relative value
versus larger transactions.”
Global asset manager Pantheon was
a cornerstone investor in the new
strategy committing an undisclosed
“significant” sum.
AMP Capital global head of
infrastructure equity Boe Pahari said OBP’s
commitment was further endorsement of
the strength of the strategy.

“Growing numbers of institutional
investors are seeking greater exposure to
alternative assets such as infrastructure
attracted to its predictable risk-adjusted
returns, consistent yields and portfolio
diversification,” he said.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
US firm leads $US10m
investment in cancer drug
delivery system
Boston investment firm GRT Capital
Partners has led a $US10 million
Series B financing round for Sydney-
based emerging cancer treatment
biopharmaceutical company EnGeneIC.
The round was over-subscribed.
Other new US investors in the round
include venture capital fund Foley
Ventures, which is sponsored by US
national legal group Foley & Lardner, and a
number of Foley & Lardner partners.
The round was also supported by
existing investors.
As a result of the financing, EnGeneIC
has established a US office in New York
City and appointed Anjan Chatterji as
executive vice president of corporate
development. Chatterji will operate from
the New York office.
Chatterji, a lawyer, has joined from
Foley & Lardner where he was the firm’s
director of healthcare economics. He
has also been an angel investor in the
healthcare space.
EnGeneIC joint chief executive, Dr
Jennifer MacDiarmid, said Anjan Chatterji
had been instrumental in securing the
current financing round and the company
anticipated he would be a valuable
addition to its team.
EnGeneIC will primarily use the
new financing to advance the clinical
development of its antibody-targeted EDV
nanocell technology platform.
The company expects to commence
a Phase 1/2a clinical trial in recurrent
glioblastoma (a type of brain tumour)
in mid-2015. The trial is being planned in
conjunction with a leading US hospital.
A personalised medicine trial is also to
be carried out at the Royal North Shore
Hospital in Sydney.
Additionally, the funding will be used
to continue the company’s Phase 1/2a
mesothelioma trial which is currently
enrolling patients in Australia and is
expected to announce preliminary
safety data in the second quarter of
2015. Announced in November, the trial
is supported by the Asbestos Disease
Research Institute.
GRT Capital Partners co-founder and
portfolio manager Timothy Krochuk said:
“We believe EnGeneIC’s novel delivery
technology can play an important role
in changing the treatment paradigm
for highly cytotoxic chemotherapy and
functional nucleic acids as well as improve
outcomes by engaging the immune system
to target tumours.”
EnGeneIC joint chief executive
Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt said the
investment round provided validation
from sophisticated US institutions and
this would be critical for the company to
achieve its clinical goals.
EnGeneIC says its bacterially derived
EDV nanocells are a powerful nanoparticle
drug delivery system designed to directly
target and effectively kill tumour cells
with minimal toxicity while at the same
time stimulating the immune system’s
natural anti-tumour response. Injected
intravenously, the EDV nanocells exit the
vascular system only within tumours and
attach to cancer cells via a specially target
designed antibody. Once attached, a
nanocell is able to enter a tumour cell and
deliver a drug payload of up to one million
drug molecules. In parallel, the bacterial
cell wall of the nanocells stimulate key
components of the immune system which
are then activated to seek out and destroy
cancer cells.
The technology can be used to carry and
release high concentrations of molecularly
targeted anti-cancer drugs and offers a
potential new means of treating drug-
resistant cancers.
EnGeneIC is currently preparing an
Investigational New Drug (IND) application
for submission to the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
NEW FUNDS AND FUNDRAISING
US retirement fund allocates
to Australian manager
Maine Public Employees Retirement
System (Maine PERS) has made a
new $US75 million infrastructure
investment commitment to IFM Investors,
according to Alt Assets and LP Real
Estate websites.
The US retirement fund was already an
investor with IFM, the only Australian firm
on its roster of investment managers.
IFM has two infrastructure funds, the
IFM Global Infrastructure Fund and the
IFM Australian Infrastructure Fund. LP
Real Estate reports Maine PERS has
allocated to the ex-Australia IFM Global
Infrastructure Fund.
IFM investors has a North American
infrastructure investment team based in
New York.
While it remains owned by about 30
Australian industry super funds, IFM
Investors – formerly Industry Funds
Management – has restructured itself as
a global asset manager over recent years
and has sought to build up its roster of
overseas investors.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
$2m for commercialisation
of therapeutics development
technology
The Brandon Capital-managed Medical
Research Commercialisation Fund
(MRCF) has provided seed funding of
$2 million to set up early stage biotech
company Solvanix.
Solvanix has been established to
commercialise a technology that can
be used to reduce the tendency of
monoclonal antibody products to
aggregate.
The proprietary technology StAbilize
was developed by the Gavan Institute of
Medical Research in Sydney.
StAbilize works by optimising amino
acids at specific locations within the
structure of antibodies.
Solvanix is to work with biotech
and pharma organisations developing
therapeutic antibodies to encourage them
to utilise StAbilize. Non-exclusive licences
for the technology will be available.
Brandon Capital investment manager
Chris Smith, a non-executive director
of Solvanix, said the company was a
great example of the sort of pioneering
technologies that the MRCF had been set
up to commercialise.

He said StAbilize should be a game-
changer for the global antibody
therapeutics industry as it was the only
broadly applicable technology proven to
reduce antibody aggregation.
Founder and chief scientific officer
of Solvanix Associate Professor Daniel
Christ said the tendency of therapeutic
antibodies to aggregate under certain
conditions was a critical problem in
their expensive development and
manufacturing processes. StAbilize should
help eliminate this problem.
Corporate venturer backs
online neighbourhood
social network
Westpac Bank’s corporate venturing arm
Reinventure Group has invested in online
neighbourhood social network Nabo.
Nabo launched in early December after
raising $2.25 million from Reinventure,
Seven West Media and other investors.
The founder of Nabo is Adam Rigby
who co-founded daily deals site JumpOnIt
and was formerly chief executive of deals
site LivingSocial.
According to Rigby, Nabo (nabo.com.
au) is Australia’s first neighbourhood
social network, a free social media
platform that enables individuals and
organisations in a neighbourhood to
directly connect online.
Rigby says Nabo is not just another
online community but a way for
individuals and organisations to link
with their neighbours via the internet.
Connections are made through secure
hyperlocal websites.
Initial trial sites have been established
so far in a number of suburbs in Sydney,
Melbourne, Brisbane and Newcastle.
Nabo is based on US site Nextdoor
which was founded in 2010 and attracted
$US90 million in funding – effectively
valuing the company at around $US500
million – before it had developed a
revenue model. Nextdoor has attracted
police departments as partners and
is claimed to have reduced crime
by as much as 10 per cent in some
communities.
Nabo is targeting reaching a million
users before the end of 2015.
Investment available for
advanced manufacturing
Private investment firm Manifex has
opened applications for its second
round of funding for high technology
commercialisation projects.
Funding will be available to support
start-up companies that have developed
advanced materials or advanced
manufacturing technologies.
Manifex was established in early
2014 and has so far been working
with companies in these sectors
being incubated or assisted by the
Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials
Manufacturing (VCAMM). Scoresby,
Victoria, based VCAMM is a not for profit
organisation which has been operating
since 2003.
Manifex managing director Iain Ralph,
who previously worked for VCAMM, said
the first round of Manifex investments
were progressing successfully and the
company’s Asian and local investors now
wanted the company to identify further
investment opportunities.
“As an evergreen fund we have the
ability to raise capital as required to
support the needs of our growing
portfolio of firms,” Ralph said.
Manifex will provide funding for the
commercialisation of technologies and to
generally assist in the ongoing growth of
businesses in its sector.
Companies which have received
funding from Manifex so far include
Cytomatrix in Geelong and Circa Group
in Coburg.
Cytomatrix has developed a highly
scalable haematopoietic stem cell
expansion technology which has
potential for use in organ transplant
processes and as an adjunct to
chemotherapy.
With partners Austeng and Deakin
University, Cytomatrix has also
developed a machine for producing
short nanofibres. This project received
a 2014 Excellence Award in the Research
and Development/Innovation category
at this year’s Victorian Engineering
Excellence Awards.
Circa has developed what it claims to
be the world’s first continuous process
for the manufacture of an important
and highly flexible molecule from
waste cellulose. The molecule can be
used to produce a platform chemical
that has applications in numerous
international markets.
Founders Tony Duncan and Warwick
Raverty started the business in a home
garage four years ago and only recently
moved into their own manufacturing
facility where they have expanded their
workforce and are now processing
orders from large European chemical
companies.
Ralph said Cytomatrix and Circa had
been recipients of targeted support
by VCAMM over a number of years
as they developed their technologies.
VCAMM’s interests in both companies
had been acquired by Manifex which
had already provided initial
commercialisation investment and
expected to provide more.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Produce business back in
Australian ownership
Perfection Fresh Australia, the country’s
largest family-owned fresh produce
business, has acquired Moraitis Group,
a former Catalyst Investment Managers
investee.
The vendor was King Bid Company, an
Australian subsidiary of Hong Kong Stock
Exchange-listed Chevalier International
Holdings. The deal was completed on 19
January.
Chevalier acquired Moraitis from
Catalyst and the Moraitis family for $211.25
million in 2013 (APE&VCJ, Mar 13). Sydney-
based Perfection Fresh is operated by
Michael and John Simonetta and owned
by the Simonetta family and family office
The Victor Smorgon Group.
According to S&P CapitalIQ, the sale
agreement includes the licence for the
kumato tomato variety, a 4.7 hectare
glasshouse facility in Tatura, Victoria, and
access to a strategically aligned network
of tomato growers.
Meanwhile, Australia’s largest grower
and distributor of fruit and vegetables,
Costa Group, is reported to have
appointed Goldman Sachs and UBS as
joint lead managers for an IPO and float

on the ASX planned for the first half of
this year.
US private equity firm Paine & Partners
took a 50 per cent stake in Costa Group
in 2011 (APE&VCJ, Aug 11) with the Costa
family retaining the remainder.
In 2013, Costa Group acquired South
Australian business Adelaide Mushrooms.
Another significant fresh produce
business, Freshmax Group, is 60 per cent
owned by Auckland-based private equity
firm Maui Capital.
Maui Capital acquired its stake in the
trans-Tasman business from Wolseley
Private Equity in early 2012 (APE&VCJ,
Feb 12).
New peer-to-peer lending
venture plans private
capital raising
The team behind a new peer-to-peer
lending venture is planning a private
capital raising next month (March) and a
launch of online operations soon after.
Melbourne-based MoneyPlace has applied
for an Australian Securities and Investments
Commission (ASIC) Financial Services licence
which it will need to begin operations.
The team behind the venture includes four
former National Australia Bank executives:
Stuart Stoyan, former business banking head
of strategy; former head of unsecured credit
Paul Abbey; business banker Melanie
Nguyen; and strategic development
manager Matthew Santosa. The team is
completed by an experienced web developer
James Smith as chief technology officer.
So far the only outside investor in
MoneyPlace is a UK hedge fund which has
not been named.
SocietyOne launched in 2012 as
Australia’s first peer-to-peer lender. The
business quickly attracted customers
and in December, 2014, James Packer, Ryan
Stokes and Lachlan Murdoch invested
in the venture.
2014 Australian
private equity
investor survey
2014 AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR SURVEY OF PRIVATE EQUITY & VENTURE
CAPITAL INVESTING – PRIVATE EQUITY MEDIA
Report authors: David Brown, Simon Uzcilas, Adrian Herbert
Survey report plus observations: $200 (inc. GST).
Special discount price for Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal subscribers: $150 (inc. GST).
This survey, completed in late 2014, uncovers a substantial reduction in the proportion of investors
intending to increase allocations to private equity. The survey also reveals that the trend for local investors
– predominantly superannuation funds – to invest private equity allocations globally rather than locally is still
strengthening. Accompanying observations explore reasons for these changes based on direct comment from
decision makers.
To purchase online visit: www.privateequitymedia.com.au and click on “Subscribe” in the green toolbar.
We will email your PDF copy as soon as your payment is processed.
For enquiries email: subscriptions@privateequitymedia.com.au
NOW AVAILABLE
2014
1
Australian Institutional Investor Survey of
Private Equity & Venture Capital Investing
2014
Private Equity Media
Authors: David Brown, Simon Uzcilas, Adrian Herbert

Todd Corporation is reportedly seeking
to sell its investment in Crown Castle
Australia, the holder of the country’s
largest portfolio of mobile phone services
relay infrastructure and sites.
Todd Corporation and other minority
shareholders hold around 20 per cent of
Crown Castle Australia which was formed
in 2000 to acquire the repeater station
infrastructure and now controls around
1,800 sites.
The majority of the business is owned by
US company Crown Castle (NSE: CCI).
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Mining technology and
services specialist makes
first investment
Mining equipment technology and services
private equity firm Jolimont Global Mining
Systems has made its first investment,
in Montreal, Canada, based Newtrax
Technologies Inc.
Newtrax is a leading provider of
electronic safety and automation products
for underground mines.
Jolimont Global Mining Systems was
formed in November 2013 as a joint
venture between Melbourne private equity
firm Jolimont Capital and international
mining-focused private equity firm
Resource Capital Funds (RCF). RCF has
its headquarters in Denver and also has
offices in New York, Toronto and Perth. The
firm is currently investing its $US2 billion
sixth fund.
Chief investment officer of Jolimont
Global, Charles Gillies, said Jolimont Global
had looked at over 200 potential mining
equipment technology and services space
investments globally before deciding on
Newtrax as its first investment.
“Jolimont recognises the potential of
Newtrax’s products to dramatically reduce
bottlenecks and safety blackspots in
underground mines,” he said. “Newtrax
impressed us with their clear market vision
and quality of products and highly capable
management team.”
Gillies has joined the board of the
company.
Newtrax is a leader in electronic safety
and automation products for underground
mines. The company’s flagship wireless
networking platform MineHop is designed
to extend network connectivity into
active mining areas prior to permanent
communications infrastructure being
installed. The wireless nodes can be
installed by mineworkers in seconds and
can provide chains of communication right
up to a workface.
The investment was made in July.
PERFORMANCE
US brands business acquires
iconic surfwear company
Surfwear and skatewear brand Mambo has
been acquired by a private equity-backed
US brands business.
Saban Brands has acquired Mambo for
an undisclosed amount.
The company is an affiliate of Los
Angeles-based entertainment and lifestyle
specialist private investment firm Saban
Capital Group.
Announcing the acquisition on 6
January, Saban Brands said Mambo
would join its newly formed Saban Brands
Lifestyle Group which includes the Paul
Frank and Macbeth labels.
The company’s managing director of
strategic business development, Dan
Castle, said: “As an Australian brand with
a unique art-driven aesthetic, Mambo will
play a significant role in our international
growth strategy both in Australia and
around the world.”
He said Saban Brands planned to
expand Mambo’s Sydney office.
Mambo managing director Angus
Kingsmill said: “This is a massive coup for
Mambo and one the Australian team is
incredibly excited about. Saban Brands
is a major player in the international
entertainment art, music and brand
marketing space. The partnering of
Mambo with Saban Brands will provide
a platform for talented Australian and
international artists to showcase amazing
wearable art to a global audience on a
scale much greater than ever before.”
Mambo was founded by entrepreneur
Dare Jennings about 30 years ago.
Private investment company Equity
and Capital Finance Australia, owned by
Kingsmill and accountant Tony Woodward,
bought Mambo from Gazal Corporation
for an undisclosed sum in 2008 (APE&VCJ,
Feb 08).
Two UK peer-to-peer lenders, RateSetter
and ThinCats also recently launched
operations in Australia.
New Zealand’s only similar business
Harmoney, which launched in 2013,
recently attracted a $7.7 million
investment, for a 15 per cent stake, from
online trading website Trade Me (ASX/
NZX: TME).
January, Trade Me chief executive Jon
Macdonald said the deal was a great fit as
the Trade Me platform was all about items
changing hands and Harmoney’s was all
about dollars changing hands.
Harmoney chief executive Neil Roberts
welcomed the investment and strategic
partnership which he said gave Harmoney
access to a distribution channel and deep
knowledge of building and running an
online marketplace.
The leading peer-to-peer lender in
the US, Lending Club (NYSE: LC) was
established eight years ago. Lending Club
raised nearly $US870 million when it listed
in December making it the biggest tech
stock listing of the year.
Venture capital firms which were early
investors in Lending Club include Norwest
Partners, Canaan Partners, Morgenthaler
Venture Partners and Bay Partners. Later
venture investors included Foundation
Capital, Union Square Ventures and Kleiner
Perkins Caulfield & Byers.
The venture investors are believed to be
retaining their holdings so far.
Peer-to-peer lending is targeting a
highly profitable slice of the business of
major banks, personal loans.
Entrepreneurs behind the ventures
claim they are able to use new online
technologies to more cost effectively rate
the credit-worthiness of loan applicants
than conventional banks. They also claim
to be able to offer much better investment
returns to customers who provide loan
capital because of much lower operating
costs than banks.
NEWS
Mobile phone services
infrastructure stake
for sale
Wellington-based family-owned
conglomerate and investment company
–
–
–

NEWS
Medical device
commercialisation graduates
win scholarships
Two participants in ATP Innovations’
recently completed Medical Device
Commercialisation Training Program -
now called “Ignition Medical” - have been
awarded scholarships to a University of
San Francisco biotech incubation program.
The winners of the QB3 Rosenman
Scholarships are Dr Sheridan Gho and Dr
Michael Weaver, both of the University of
Wollongong.
The two young researchers will take part
in a two-year program under which they
will work with clinicians in San Francisco
to further commercialise their project. The
QB3 program also provides laboratory
facilities and is regarded as the biotech
equivalent to UCSF’s well-established
digital technology commercialisation
program.
Gho and Weaver have been working
on a device to manage lymphoedema,
a condition which affects one in three
breast cancer survivors. Lymphoedema
causes localised fluid retention and painful
tissue swelling. Gho and Weaver have
developed a sleeve that reduces pain from
the condition by massaging the lymphatic
system.
The scholarships were announced by
NSW Minister for Health Jillian Skinner
when she presented certificates to
graduates of the three-month Medical
Device Commercialisation Training
Program at ATP Innovations in Sydney on
9 December.
The minister said the NSW government
and the NSW Office for Health and
Medical Research were proud to fund
the scholarships and were confident the
knowledge the researchers would gain
would be shared on their return.
ATP’s Director of Commercial
Development, Ben Wright, who directed
the Medical Device Commercialisation
Training Program, said the state
government had been visionary in
establishing a Medical Device Fund and
Training Program as NSW had a record
of research excellence in the medical
devices sector.
The medical researchers who
participated in the program have all been
developing their technologies in NSW
universities and continue to be supported
by their host institutions.
The minister noted that when she had
become Health Minister - and the state’s
first Minister for Medical Research - she
had halved a small ministerial contingency
fund to increase the resources of the NSW
Medical Devices Fund. This had enabled
financing of follow-on projects such as
Training Program. She said she hoped
the program would help bridge the gap
between medical research and delivery
of improved medical treatments through
commercialisation of research.
The Australian medical technology
market was currently worth about $10
billion a year, she said, and half of the
industry was in NSW.
Associate Director of the NSW Office for
Health and Medical Research Anne O’Neill
said the Medical Device Commercialisation
Training Program had the potential be to
a game changer not only for NSW but
for Australia in developing an alternative
career path for medical researchers.
Another graduate of the program Dr
Farzaneh Ahmadi, has recently been
awarded a $500,000 four-year grant to
further her work in developing an artificial
larynx which works by nerve stimulation
and does not require surgery.
The grant is to be provided by the
Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams
Memorial Foundation which supports
otorhinolaryngological research in
Australasia.
Graduates gave brief presentations on
their technologies before an audience
which included venture capitalists and
individual investors. In addition to Gho and
Weaver of LymphFabrics, and Ahmadi of
Bionic Voice, participants included:
• Dr Ilana Feain, Nano-X – who has
developed a portable radiotherapy
machine which should improve access
to cancer treatment in rural areas of
Australia and in poor regions around
the world;
• Dr Paul Keall, Breathe Well – device
which measures the breathing
patterns of patients undergoing
radiotherapy to minimise healthy
tissue being irradiated as a result of
uneven breathing disturbing the focus
of radiotherapy equipment;
• Dr Rylie Green, PolyBionics – tissue-
compatible coating developed from
materials used in contact lenses to
improve the performance of devices
such as the Cochlear ear and bionic eye;
• Dr Ali Fathi, Triumph-Gel – injectable
tissue-compatible glue for dental and
other surgical implants, particularly
beneficial where bone density is low;
• Dr Simone Bone and Evelyn Linardy,
SpeeDx – fast, simple, affordable
initial medical diagnosis device. The
device can distinguish heart attacks
among other causes of chest pains
and identify serious conditions such
as meningitis;
• Dr Nicky Bertollo, Kneevations – less
invasive arthoscopic treatment for
people who would otherwise require
surgery and total knee replacements;
• Dr Bakul Gupta, SwapNya –
nanotechnology-based smart contact
lenses which can be used to treat
common eye conditions which may
result in loss of sight;
• Ryan Pawell, indee – platform
technology for manufacturing cell
therapeutics for HIV, cancer and other
diseases;
• Dr Damian Conway, venipoc –
technology that tests for multiple
diseases - including HIV and ebola -
from a single blood sample;
• Dr Linda Varadi – fast-acting
treatment for sepsis (bacterial blood
infection);
• Dr Alexander Baume, WoundTest
– technology which identifies the
causes of chronic wounds, the key to
providing effective treatment;
• Dr Kyloon Chuah, Quiksense – rapid
highly accurate test for early stage
prostate cancer which can also be
used to identify recurrence of the
disease;
• Dr Roya Ravarian, Endoluminal
Sciences – advanced minimally
invasive heart valve treatment
technology which can avoid the need
for open heart surgery;
• Dr Paul Breen, HeMo – inexpensive
device which measures impedance
of blood flow in a limb, a key step
in diagnosing many serious medical
conditions;

Australian Private Equity Venture Capital Journal FEBRUARY 2015 · Year 24 No 249 | 22
• Dr Gaetano Gargiulo, Vital Core –
inexpensive “tee-shirt” style device
which serves as a cardio pulmonary
monitor and could substitute for
much more expensive technologies;
• Dr James Wood, State of the Heart –
an endovascular stent graft for repair
of aortic arch pathology.
The NSW Medical Devices Fund is a
$5 million per year competitive technology
development and commercialisation
program funded by the NSW government
through the NSW Ministry of Health
and the NSW Office of Health and
Medical Research.
In the first year, funding was boosted
to $8 million and over the first two annual
rounds, $16.4 million has been committed
to nine technologies. Round three will have
up to $6.7 million available.
Preliminary applications for the 2015-16
program are to close on 5 February.
PEOPLE MOVES
Former AVCAL chairman takes
on wealth management role
Former AVCAL chairman Andrew Rothery
has taken up a non-executive director
role with new Sydney-based independent
private wealth advisory partnership Koda
Capital.
Koda was set up late last year by former
JBWere head Paul Heath and former MLC
chief executive Steve Tucker.
Tucker left MLC, the wealth advisory arm
of National Australia Bank, last year.
Tucker points out that the wealth
advisory sector has long been dominated
by firms owned by issuers of investment
products including banks and other large
financial services businesses and this has
posed questions over the independence
of advice.
He said he found it puzzling that large
scale professional services firms, like those
found in law and accounting, had not
developed in financial planning.
“If you look at the landscape of wealth
advice, what we’ve seen in the traditional
structures of the last 30 years or so is
that whilst there’s been independents
and there’s been vertically integrated
businesses, over time the lines continually
blur and then separate and then blur and
then separate,” he said.
“Those structures have actually done
a pretty good job. They’ve provided
good and robust advice to millions
of Australians and they provide good
product outcomes. But because they
are so entangled, the challenge of
regulating them, to make sure customer
interests are put first – of a government
legislating – as we have seen with a few
rounds of FoFA (the federal government’s
Future of Financial Advice reforms), is
very complex …”
He said Koda would try to replicate
the independence and culture of a
professional services partnership with a
fees-based economic model that focused
solely on generating revenue for the client.
Heath said advances in technology had
enabled Koda to be set up with relatively
low fixed costs. It will, for example, use
the Powerwrap platform for investment
reporting and execution. Also, the
firm’s advisers will share in the profits
of the business as part of their overall
remuneration.
“We can genuinely make money by
giving advice rather that making money
by selling product,” Heath said.
Andrew Rothery founded Grant Samuel
Private Equity (later GS Private Equity)
and went on to co-found Archer Capital
which he left in 2006. He served as
chairman of AVCAL from 2009-2011.
Rothery resigned as a non-executive
director of MLC last year to enable him to
take up the Koda directorship.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Listed insurance broking
group to acquire
rehabilitation business
Insurance broking and underwriting group
Austbrokers Holdings Limited (ASX:
AUB) is to acquire a 60 per cent stake
in rehabilitation and injury management
business Altius Group Pty Ltd.
Austbrokers has made a cash payment
of $13.6 million and will make a further
payment later this year based on 2015
financial year results but estimated to be
$3.45 million.
Altius provides services to insurers,
government bodies and businesses.
Established in 2000, the business has
annual revenue in excess of $14 million.
Austbrokers is Australia and New
Zealand’s leading equity-based insurance
distribution, underwriting agency and risk
services group.
The acquisition, announced on 30
January, continues Austbrokers Holdings
diversification strategy of investing in
service providers to the insurance sector.
Chief executive Mark Searles said:
“With the addition of Altius we expect
to significantly grow and enhance our
risk services area further removing
dependence on the insurance broking
distribution area for growth and mitigating
the effects of the insurance rate cycle.”
Founding directors Derick Borean and
Richard Forby are to remain with Altius
and retain a combined 40 per cent stake in
the business.
Allen Overy provided legal advice to
Austbrokers and Minter Ellison to Altius.
PEOPLE MOVES
Listed equities manager
appoints former private
equity figure
Former CHAMP Private Equity managing
director David Jones has been appointed
chairman of high conviction global listed
equities investment manager VGI Partners.
Investors in Sydney-based VGI are
mainly high net worth individuals, family
offices and endowment funds.
Jones’ other directorships include a
role as a non-executive director and
member of the investment committee of
resources private equity fund manager
EMR Capital, manager of the EMR Capital
Resources Fund.
Since he left CHAMP in 2011, Jones has
focused on the renewable energy sector.
He initially joined Better Place Australia
as an executive team member under chief
executive Evan Thornley, co-founder of
search engine company LookSmart.
Israel-founded Better Place failed in
2013 when it became clear the company’s
“quick drop” battery change technology
was not gaining traction with car makers.
Jones is now chief executive of solar
energy generation systems leasing
company Kudos Energy. Kudos Energy
received a $30 million investment from the
Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC)
in 2013.

Australian Private Equity Venture Capital Journal FEBRUARY 2015 · Year 24 No 249 | 23
Kudos designs and installs solar
photo voltaic installations for the roofs
of commercial premises and apartment
blocks with the owners entering into
power purchase finance agreements to be
supplied with power at discounted rates.
The Coalition federal government is
committed to abolishing the CEFC, which
was established by the former Labor
administration, but its attempt to do so in
2013 failed in the Senate.
PEOPLE MOVES
Local innovator recruits
former executive of private
equity-backed company
Payments technology company Indue
has recruited the former local managing
director of US-based First Data, a Kohlberg
Kravis Roberts (KKR) investee.
John Tait is joining Brisbane-based Indue
as executive director, strategic development
and distribution and will be based in the
company’s Chatswood, Sydney, office. Tait
was with First Data for 13 years and prior to
that spent six years with National Australia
Bank’s global payments division.
Indue provides customised services
to a range of finance providers including
building societies, mortgage originators,
boutique banks and credit unions.
Tait said he had been attracted to Indue
after watching its transformation over
ten years from a conservative payments
provider with a narrow offering to a
diversified supplier of innovative payment
solutions with appeal to a broad market
in Australia and overseas. Increasingly,
he said, large organisations were turning
to innovators like Indue to deliver
technological change quickly and more
efficiently than they could do themselves.
Indue chief executive Manuel Garcia, also
a former National Australia Bank executive,
said the recruitment of an industry expert
of Tait’s experience illustrated the success
of Indue’s change of focus.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
International firm makes
first investment in Malaysia
US-based international smaller companies
specialist private equity firm The Riverside
Company has made its first investment in
Malaysia, acquiring value-added specialty
chemicals distributor Drex-Chem Malaysia
for an undisclosed sum.
Drex-Chem Malaysia has relationships
with more than 50 international chemical
companies and provides a portfolio of
about 700 branded products to more than
700 customers.
Riverside managing partner Stu Baxter
said the company had strong technical
capabilities and a knowledgeable
salesforce. “It’s easy to see why many of
the world’s premier chemical companies
trust Drex-Chem to represent them in
Malaysia,” he said.
Customers include some several of
the largest global paint and coatings
companies as well as leading consumer
goods companies.
Jones Day, Ernst Young and
DistriConsult advised Riverside on the
transaction. HSBC provided loan funding
for the deal.
Accelerator to take start-ups
to China
Telstra-backed technology accelerator
muru-D is to take its current batch of start-
up businesses to China next month (March).
Sydney-based muru-D is also seeking
to attract Chinese technology start-ups
to Australia.
The muru-D team say that historically
the Australian technology start-up scene
has focused almost exclusively on the US
market but this is starting to change with
the rise of China.
Muru-D’s current group of start-ups – its
second group – have each been asked to
think about a China market strategy, to seek
investment and advice from the Australia
Chinese community and to spend time in
China developing customers and seeking
investment.
The start-up teams have already met
with Australian investors and advisers from
Chinese backgrounds at a special investor/
advisor meeting.
The muru-D class #2 comprises:
• CrowdSourceHire – online
platform for assessing the skills of
applicants for technical roles using
crowdsourced industry experts.
• Disrupt – creator of custom
surfboards and other sporting goods
using 3D modelling.
• Fanfuel – platform to help brands
that sponsor athletes improve the
way they monitor the sponsored
athlete’s performances on social
media.
• Freight Exchange – digital
marketplace to enable long distance
freight carriers to connect with
customers to sell excess capacity.
• Funetics – Online phonetic platform
to help speakers of other languages
master English pronunciation and
comprehension.
• Instrument Works – Simplified
system for data collection using
sensor devices connected through
the internet and controlled by
smartphones.
• SoccerBrain – platform for soccer
clubs to manage coaching, training
and development of players.
• Tripalocal – online platform to
connect travellers with providers of
unique local experiences.
• Vclass – hybrid education platform
that combines internet, VoIP and pen
and paper work to create an online
learning experience more like a face-
to-face class.
• Wattblock – quick, customised, web-
based energy saving roadmaps for
residential and strata buildings.
• You Chews – online catering platform
to make it easy to find great food for
meetings and events.
PEOPLE MOVES
Leading investment
banker steps down
Leading investment banker John Wylie
has retired as chief executive of corporate
advisory firm Lazard Australia.
Melbourne-based Wylie stepped down
at the turn of the year to be replaced by
Lachlan Edwards and Andrew Leyden as
joint chief executives.
Wylie will now act as a special advisor
to Lazard on a limited number of client
matters and will also remain involved with
Lazard Australia Private Equity.
After heading Credit Suisse First Boston
in Australia and leading deals such as the

Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal // February 2015

Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal // February 2015

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

La actualidad más candente

La actualidad más candente (20)

Similar a Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal // February 2015

Similar a Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal // February 2015 (20)

Más de CAR FOR YOU

Más de CAR FOR YOU (20)

Último

Último (20)

Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Journal // February 2015