Invest In Quality Private Businesses

Late stage, private company investments

The Yarra Private Capital Discovery Strategy invests in late-stage private companies, partnering with founders and management teams to create significant shareholder value. The underlying Fund, which is now actively deploying capital, leverages Yarra’s listed and unlisted market expertise to provide support, insights, and advice as these businesses transition to the listed market or undertake a trade sale.

Uncorrelated returns

The Fund underwrites its investments at a significant
premium to historical listed equity returns, seeking
to generate high absolute annual returns over the
life of the Fund. This is achieved by investing in and
partnering with high-quality, private, growth-stage and
pre-IPO companies.

Highly selective

Reviewing hundreds of opportunities each year, we
choose to invest in a select few companies that meet
strict investment criteria. Remaining highly selective
enables us to choose the best minority private equity
opportunities and engage with company boards and
management teams.

Deep market experience

Benefit from the governance, research, investment
and capital markets expertise of Yarra’s total
investment team. We leverage the experience of our
portfolio managers and analysts, industry experts
and a trusted advisory board comprising some of
Australia’s leading entrepreneurs.

What we offer companies

Supportive minority capital remains scarce for late-stage Australian private companies. We partner with these businesses, assisting in areas including governance, capital markets and corporate actions, enabling management teams to focus on executing their business plans and strategy

Flexible equity capital:

We provide flexible equity solutions for a wide range of capital needs, including to support growth or to provide liquidity to
existing shareholders.

Strategic partnership:

We leverage the decades of listed markets and executive experience within Yarra and our network to enhance governance
outcomes and equity value.

Minority ownership model:

We provide capital and support for founders, shareholders and management teams who are not yet ready for public markets and want to remain in control.

What we look for

The universe of quality, proven private companies in Australia is growing as businesses choose to stay private for longer. We harness the expertise of Yarra’s investment teams and tap into corporate deal flow through our networks to identify and partner with the very best

Proven businesses

Our screening process identifies businesses with scalable and predictable revenue bases
of $20m+ and a track record of successfully executing on their business plans.

Profitable models

We invest in companies with positive
operating profits (or close to breakeven) and sustainable unit economics driven by durable
competitive advantages.

Growth opportunities

We target companies with meaningful organic growth potential operating in industries with favourable dynamics and with large total addressable markets.

Quality leadership

We seek aligned leadership teams operating with integrity amid strong governance frameworks and reporting standards, and sensible and realistic plans to create shareholder value.

Clear realisation options

Companies should have a clear path to one or more avenues of shareholder liquidity within three years. However, we are willing to invest and support at and post IPO.

Board representation

We ensure we have the ability to constructively assist and monitor our investee companies via representation on the board or through observer rights.

Portfolio Manager

Private Capital

David Acton

Senior Investment Analyst

Josh Baron

We aim to generate minimum portfolio return of 15% p.a. (net of fees) over the Fund's life¹.

Insight, 30 October | A new era dawns for Hybrids?

As bank issuance shrinks, corporate hybrids are in the ascendent, with non-financial corporate hybrids potentially instrumental in powering Australia’s energy transition. So what do they offer the fixed income investor? Australia’s hybrid bond market rarely makes headlines, but in recent weeks it has been firmly back in the spotlight. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) […]

8 MINUTE READ

Insight, 25 October | Michael Steele: Small caps on Michael’s mind

Michael Steele, Co-Portfolio Manager of Small Cap Equities, recently joined Andrew Geoghegan on ausbiz to discuss the year-to-date (YTD) performance of Australian small caps. He highlighted one essential resource experiencing strong demand and offering attractive valuations, and also touched on a healthcare company that he believes is well-positioned for growth through AI advancements and recent […]