(1 February 2007 – Australia) ANZ’s former capital director of Private Equity Jeremy Samuel has launched a new SME focussed private equity firm called Anacacia Capital.Samuel resigned from ANZ, where he was also chairman of the bank’s private equity management committee, to become the founding managing director of Anacacia Capital.
“We are responding to a significant underserved part of the market. SMEs, particularly family owned businesses, are crying out for ways to manage ownership change, succession and acquisitions,” he said.
“While other private equity firms are focused on larger often public companies where they compete with multiple buyers, Anacacia Capital will look to support management teams acquiring SMEs with EBIT (profits) less than A$10 million per annum. Our focus is on proprietary opportunities that we create,” he said.
An important part of Anacacia’s approach will be the use of a Business Advisory Council, which are increasingly being used in Europe and the US, though not in Australia currently.