CVC hires Affinity's ex-Australia head

The GP will open an office in Sydney – taking its network to 25 locations globally – and Sutton will oversee the development of a local team. Sutton ended his 16-year tenure at Affinity in early 2020 and was expected by many in the industry to launch his own private equity firm.

According to AVCJ Research, CVC's last Australia buyout was the acquisition of hotel operator Stella Group in early 2008. The company underwent a restructuring in 2009 and – rebranded as Mantra Group – ended up listing in Australia in 2014. The preceding investment was TV network Nine Entertainment, which was ceded to creditors in 2013 for a complete loss.

Adrian MacKenzie, a managing partner who was responsible for CVC's investments in Australia, departed a year earlier. He has since returned to the industry with local mid-market investor Five V Capital. Australia was excluded from the mandate for the CVC's fourth pan-Asian fund, which closed at $3.5 billion in 2014.

The private equity firm closed Fund V at $4.5 billion in 2020. Sigit Prasetya, a managing partner and Asia head, said in a statement that now is the right time to build a presence in the country.

Sutton added: "I am keen to build our presence in Australia and I look forward to working closely with the CVC team to identify exciting investment opportunities in our local markets and bring in the global expertise, networks and pools of capital of CVC to add value to Australian businesses."

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• Topics
• Australasia
• GPs
• People
• Australia
• Appointments
• CVC Capital Partners
• Affinity Equity Partners