Private Equity Professional of the Year – Peter Wiggs

Under the stewardship of Wiggs and Greg Minton, his fellow managing director, Archer Capital has completed four deals and three exits in the past 12 months. It was enough to scoop the award for Firm of the Year for the Australian outfit as well.

The exits were led by accounting software firm MYOB, for which Archer and HarbourVest Partners received A$1.3 billion in August, well in excess of the expected A$1 billion.

Bain Capital and KKR had been the frontrunners for several weeks before the last-minute emergence of UK software make Sage Group pushed up the price. However, Sage left almost as soon as it had arrived, leaving the way clear for Bain. It was the third highest private equity exit ever seen in Australia and gave Archer and HarbourVest a considerable return on their A$450 million investment made in early 2009.

Two months later, Archer sold Rebel Group, Australia's largest sporting goods chain, to camping and auto parts store owner Super Retail Group for A$610 million. The private equity firm paid A$369 million for Rebel Sport in March 2007, combining the company with its existing Amart Allsports business.

Archer has also been Australian private equity's biggest spender of 2011 as it brought its fourth fund, which closed in June 2007 at A$1.4 billion, near to full commitment. Over a six-week period during the summer, Archer spent nearly A$1 billion on assets, including several secondary purchases from other private equity firms that needed to exit investments made during the boom period of 2007.

Quick Service Restaurant Holdings (QSRH) - the company behind local fast-food chains Red Rooster, Oporto and Chicken Treat - was purchased from Quadrant Private Equity for A$450 million, while Healthe Care, Australia's third-largest hospital group, came from CHAMP Ventures for A$230 million.

On top of this, Archer is halfway through raising its fifth fund. It is a difficult time private equity firms seeking capital in Australia at present. With superannuation funds scaling back their commitments to the asset class, there have been reports of firms cutting management fees and agreeing to delays on performance fees until all the money has been returned to LPs rather than after each deal. Some market watchers have gone so far as to suggest that local players outside the top quartile will be cut off by investors.

Projections for Archer's fifth fund, however, have continued to creep up, from A$1.2 billion ($1.18 billion) in May to A$1.5 billion at last count. "They won't have any problem raising it at all," is how one industry participant puts it to AVCJ.

Wiggs credited the firm's success to a lot of hard work behind the scenes. "It is the culmination of what has been done over 5-7 years by our team back in Sydney," he said.

 

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Central Asia
• North Asia
• Greater China
• Australasia
• Buyout
• Exits
• Buyouts
• Archer Capital
• buyout
• Exit
• Fundraising
• Australia