Local private equity talent scores top gongs at AVCJ awards - The Australian Financial Review

Street Talk

Nov 14, 2023 – 8.46am

Local buyout firms Anchorage Capital Partners and Allegro Funds were recognised for their dealmaking efforts at the Asian Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards 2023 awards ceremony in Hong Kong on Monday night.

Anchorage’s team took home the “Deal of the Year’ trophy for their high-profile acquisition of upmarket department store David Jones, which completed earlier this year. That transaction was expected to see the Sydney private equity firm seek to create a near-$1 billion online business by doubling web turnover.

Anchorage was eyeing David Jones as far back as September 2021. AFR

As part of the deal, Anchorage managing partner Simon Woodhouse was anointed chairman, while fellow managing partner Beau Dixon – who spearheaded the tilt – and Anchorage founder Phil Cave assumed board seats.

Meanwhile, Adrian Loader, Fay Bou and Chester Moynihan’s Pizza Hut Australia divestment scored the ‘Operational Value Add’ award, which is given at the discretion of the AVCJ Editorial Board based on the recommendations of a judging panel.

Allegro sold Pizza Hut Australia to the United States’ largest franchise owner Flynn Restaurant Grou in June, a year after it called in Miles Advisory to serve up an exit and after seven years of ownership.

Flynn owns Taco Bell, Panera, Arby’s Wendy’s and Pizza Hut franchises across the US and rings in $US4.2 billion in sales annually. Its acquisition price for Pizza Hut Australia wasn’t disclosed. It was Flynn’s first play out of the US.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones. Email Sarah at sarah.thompson@afr.com

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Local private equity talent scores top gongs at AVCJ awards - The Australian Financial Review
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