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The following press release was found on the Norwest web site:
Norwest Productions Pty Limited, one of Australia's largest professional audio service providers, has announced a major investment by Anacacia Capital, through its boutique private equity fund specialising in SME's. Anacacia Capital joins founding Managing Director Chris Kennedy as major shareholders in the business. Norwest's senior management team is also investing alongside Anacacia Capital.
Norwest Productions has offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Beijing.
Norwest rents specialized equipment and provides technical staff to assist with corporate and specialty events, concerts, festivals, broadcast and theatre. Recent events include Carols In The Domain, the MTV Awards, the Iron Maiden Australian Tour, So You Think You Can Dance and the Golden Guitar Awards 2008.
This investment follows several months of exclusive discussions. Ernst & Young, Deacons, Marsh and Grays each supported Anacacia Capital's due diligence analysis.
The investment enables the Company to continue to expand its inventory and service to customers in concert, theatre, broadcast and event management.
The Company has been growing more than 20% per annum over the past few years. The Company is also actively considering acquisitions.
Chris Kennedy, Managing Director of Norwest, said "We are delighted to have Anacacia Capital as an investor in our business. Jeremy and his team have already started to add significant value to the business and we look forward to continuing to grow the business together."
Jeremy Samuel, Managing Director of Anacacia Capital, has indicated that they have reviewed almost 200 businesses since the launch of the Anacacia Partnership fund in July 2007. "We like to identify first class management teams in attractive industries. Norwest is a great example of our approach to originating proprietary opportunities. We look forward to helping management continue to grow into an even more successful business."
For further information contact:
Chris Kennedy
PO Box 6799, Silverwater NSW 1811
Phone: +612 9737 8522
Fax: +612 9737 8524 |
This prompted us to check a bit further. So, with a bit of prodding, we found the following information.
- Anacacia Capital is what's called a private equity fund.
- They are located at Level 2, 4-10 Bay Street,
Double Bay Sydney NSW 2028 Australia Phone: +612 9363 1222
Fax: +612 9363 1110
- They specialize in established companies that are managing ownership change, succession and new acquisitions. They also claim to provide assistance and capital plus management teams to help these businesses grow.
- The guy who seems to be in charge of the Anacacia/Norwest deal is Jeremy Samuel. He also just happens to be the founding Managing Director of Anacacia Capital.
- Jeremy is also now the Non-Executive Director of Norwest Productions.
About Jeremy
Jeremy used to work for the ANZ bank. And not just as a teller. He was apparently the former Chairman of the Private Equity Management Committee and a Director of ANZ Capital. He apparently built a lot of cred while he was there.
It's reported that Jeremy went through Yale, Uni of NSW, Harvard and the Aust Inst of Company Directors. And not just a flying visit on a pushbike like the rest of us. He stayed long enough to get a whole bunch of letters after his name.
Jeremy's views might be well summed in the following which is a direct quote of his from the Anacaia website:
"[The SME businesses targeted by Anacacia] will generally have EBIT [profits] of less than A$10m [US$7.8m] per annum. And we find that in the Australian and New Zealand markets there is huge demand, particularly among family-owned businesses. They are often looking to sell their businesses to their management teams in confidential transactions and wanting to manage succession. Our role in responding to that demand is supporting the best quality management within that industry"
Have a look
Get on to their web site and have a read. We are certainly not experts but we did think it was interesting reading if anybody was thinking of:
- investing into private, rather than public, companies.
- considering ditching a business through a management buyout from founders looking to retire.
- simply want to sell your business to a private equity firm.
- reduced the risk of sensitive info falling into competitors’ hands.
- or just want an opinion from somebody who can cast a preliminary eye over things without the whole world knowing, even if it's just to work out ways to reward loyal staff.
- owners/founders getting some cash in while retaining a management role.
But keep in mind, we are not making any suggestion of these things being good or bad ideas. We have no idea either way. Seldom do golden offers appear without some risk, so make your own enquiries and do your own checks (just, don't blame us).
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