Australasia
PEP-owned Spotless raises $919m in Australia IPO
Shares in Pacific Equity Partners-owned cleaning and catering contractor Spotless Group opened at a 9.4% premium to the IPO price on the first day of trading in Sydney following a A$994.6 million ($919 million) offering.
Australia's Treasury Wine Estates rejects KKR buyout offer
Australia's Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) – owner of brands such as Penfolds, Rosemount Estate and Wolf Blass – has rejected a A$3.05 billion ($2.85 billion) buyout offer from KKR, saying it doesn’t reflect the full value of the company.
Policy vacuum?
Everyone wants to be Silicon Valley. Beijing's Zhongguancun area, Bangalore in India and Tokyo's Shibuya district are among those to earn versions of the moniker by virtue of their technical might. Hong Kong and Singapore have lofty but as yet unrealized...
TPG sole bidder for Australian engineering carve-out - report
TPG is said to have emerged as the sole final bidder for DTZ, the property services arm of Australian engineering and property management company UGL.
TA-owned SpeedCast completes another bolt-on
TA Associates-owned SpeedCast has made its third bolt-on acquisition in Australia in 18 months, purchasing a fixed and mobile satellite solutions provider SatComms Australia for an undisclosed sum.
Australia scales back start-up funding schemes
Support for technology start-ups is among the casualties in Australia’s austerity budget, with several programs discontinued, including the Innovation Investment Fund (IIF), which sponsors VC funds.
Denham mines Pembroke talent
When Barry Tudor stepped down as CEO of listed mining firm Gloucester Coal in 2012, he left behind quite a legacy. Tudor and his team shepherded the firm through a number of high-profile acquisitions – including that of Australia’s Middlemount Project...
Play the man
Denham Capital's investment in Pembroke Resources appears to follow a standard pattern: Find a management team with a track record of building and selling resources companies; furnish them with start-up capital to accumulate a portfolio of assets; provide...
Life sciences player NuSep gets PE funding for Singapore unit
Xeraya Capital, a life sciences investor controlled by Khazanah Nasional, and PE fund JP Asia Prime Capital have invested S$16 million ($12.8 million) in PrIME Biologics, a subsidiary of NuSep that specializes in therapeutic plasma products.
Lazard exits Australian auto parts business Midas to Metcash
Lazard Private Equity has exited Australian automotive parts retailer Midas to Metcash, which owns brands including IGA supermarkets and Lucky 7 convenience stores, as well as a string of liquor, hardware and automotive businesses.
Bain to buy majority stake in Australia drink bar franchise
Bain Capital has agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Retail Zoo, the owner of Australian health drink franchise Boost Juice Bars, from The Riverside Company.
Denham Capital invests $200m in Asia coal play
Denham Capital will invest $200 million in Pembroke Resources as the newly-formed company looks to develop a portfolio of metallurgical coal assets across Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.
Australia delays pension fund portfolio disclosure rules
The Australian government has once again postponed the introduction of legislation that could require superannuation funds to disclose not only the identity of the GPs they are backing but also details of the each fund’s holdings.
A heavy hand
In an industry seemingly obsessed with global standards, the Australian government's requirement that superannuation funds publish the full details of their portfolio holdings on a look-through basis was a step away from the norm. The delays in its implementation...
Australian agriculture: Mean fields?
The Australasian agricultural space is increasingly interesting to LPs that want an inflation hedge and a proxy to rising demand for quality food in emerging Asia, but local superannuation funds are slow to bite
Sentient supports Papua New Guinea mining project
Marengo Mining has received a $3 million loan from its major shareholder, private equity firm The Sentient Group, to develop a copper-gold project in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Insight breaks records with Campaign Monitor
When you consider the sheer scale of the opportunity, it is perhaps no surprise to learn that Australia's largest-ever tech VC investment to date - which took place earlier this month - involved a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company.
Australia's Gresham PE exits freight business to McAleese
Silk Logistics Group, which is owned by Australian GP Gresham Private Equity’s portfolio, has sold its last operating division, WA Freight Group (WAFG), to McAleese for A$15.4 million.
PEP-owned Spotless targets $928m IPO
Spotless Group, the Australia and New Zealand-focused cleaning and catering contractor bought by Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) in 2012, is seeking to raise approximately A$1 billion ($928 million) through an IPO.
INCJ-backed JV acquires NZ-based packaging business
A Japanese joint venture - 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) - has acquired the pulp, paper and packaging (PPP) unit of New Zealand-based forest products company Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) for just over NZ$1 billion ($857 million)....
VIDEO: Sebastiaan van den Berg of HarbourVest Partners
Australia is a consistent source of buyout deals for pan-Asian funds but its share of the regional total is falling in percentage terms as GPs source larger ticket deals in other markets, according to Sebastiaan van den Berg, managing director at HarbourVest...
Australia's PEP reaches $1b first close on Fund V
Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) has reached a first close of just under A$1.1 billion ($1 billion) on its fifth fund. The Australian GP is targeting A$2 billion in core equity, which will be supplemented by co-investment from a handful of sophisticated...
Insight Venture commits $250m to Australia's Campaign Monitor
Insight Venture Partners has invested $250 million in Campaign Monitor, an Australian business that makes software for email-marketing campaigns.
1Q analysis: Big fish, small fish
Country fund stars, China VCs make their mark on fundraising; the trade sale spike won't be sustained and the IPO surge may falter too; South Korean buyouts continue to create headlines