Riverside builds out Australia team

James Elsom (pictured second from left), formerly of Deloitte, has been hired as a principal. He has 16 years of M&A and corporate finance experience across Australia and Southeast Asia.

Elsom will work alongside Kevin Xu (pictured left), who joined Riverside in 2014 and has been promoted to principal. They will report to country head Simon Feiglin (pictured third from left; Nichasel Pejnovic, another principal, is pictured right). Feiglin has led Riverside’s local investment and operations teams for 14 years.

The firm has also recruited two analysts, taking overall headcount in its Melbourne office to 16, including 10 investment professionals.

Riverside has been active in Australia and New Zealand since at least 2010 and invested AUD 800m in the country to date, typically targeting companies with EBITDA of up to AUD 25m. Its AUD 1.5bn in AUM in the market represents a 360% increase versus 2018

“As the world becomes increasingly complex, we believe the owners of Australia's roughly 80,000 SMEs [small to medium-sized enterprises] will more greatly value a partner who can help them develop and implement growth strategies to achieve their personal and professional objectives,” Feiglin said in a statement.

Riverside has made more than 980 investments globally since 1998; its Asia Pacific footprint also includes bases in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Traction in Australia was highlighted this week with a likely sizeable exit from industrial software provider Energy Exemplar, which was acquired by The Blackstone Group and Vista Equity Partners in an approximately AUD 1.6bn deal.

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• Topics
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• The Riverside Company
• Appointments