Brett Sutton to leave role as CVC's Australia chair

Richard Blackburn, a London-based senior managing director, is moving to Australia to become country head. The development was first reported by The Australian Financial Review and has since been confirmed to AVCJ by a source close to the situation. CVC declined to comment.

The source noted that Sutton held the role of country chair but in fact operated as a senior advisor tasked with opening a Sydney office and recruiting a local team. Now those foundations have been laid, he is expected to return to managing his family office. Sutton ended his 16-year tenure at Affinity in early 2020.

The CVC website lists one Australia-based professional, in addition to Sutton: Hugh French, an investment director who was recruited from The Carlyle Group earlier this year. More hires are expected, but to date, no announcements have been made.

Blackburn has been with CVC since 2007, having previously spent two years in Morgan Stanley’s M&A department.

It is not unusual for professionals to be despatched from headquarters to head up operations in other markets and ensure continuity of culture. Adrian Mackenzie, who led CVC in Australia until 2012 and now runs Five V Capital, was originally based in London. More recently, it happened with Siddharth Patel, who spent seven years in London before moving to Singapore in 2017. He is now responsible for India operations.

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.

Most recently, the GP was pursuing container supplier Brambles, having submitted a bid worth a reported AUD 20bn (USD 13.8bn). It pulled out before reaching the formal due diligence phase, citing market volatility.

CVC has been deploying its fifth pan-Asian fund, which closed above target on USD 4.5bn in early 2020. Fund VI was expected to launch in April with a target of at least USD 6bn, according to Mergermarket, AVCJ’s sister publication.

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