theceomagazine.com | 99The leading SME strategy continues
to be so successful that Jeremy insists
Anacacia has no intention of entering
other markets. “There are many leading
SME owners facing retirement soon, and
many of them don’t have children in the
business who are ready to take over,” he
reveals. “There is a large opportunity for
Anacacia to partner with some of these
entrepreneurs and enable them to sell
down their equity. We can then partner
with them or their management team to
help grow the business to the next level.
There are 50,000 companies that employ
20 to 200 employees, so there is plenty
of scope there.
“We’re one of the largest investment
teams in Australia, but we’re still a very
small team and we’d like to keep it that
way. So we stay very focused and
disciplined. We don’t have an aspiration
to some day invest in the large banks
and companies and play in a different
space – we’re extremely passionate about
the small-to-medium market.”
Moreover, Jeremy’s very passionate about
producing golden returns for his SMEs and
investors. In fact, the name of the firm was
chosen for that reason. “We chose the name
Anacacia because we wanted to create a
firm with deep roots in the Australian SME
business community that would be resistant
to droughts like the acacia plant in the
desert – it produces Australia’s national
wattle flower – yet still produces gold
flowers each year for its investors.” If
anything, he is outperforming the analogy
and you can expect Anacacia to continue to
blossom strongly for its investors regardless
of future economic climates.supportive minority shareholder
through its public-equity fund, Wattle
Fund. Other well-known companies
that transitioned from family enterprises
to market leaders under Anacacia’s
guidance are Home Appliances, Big River,
Yumi’s Quality Foods, and Rafferty’s
Garden. Anacacia invests in only a handful
of new companies in any given year to
ensure it doesn’t compromise its ultimate
objective, to “pass them on to others
in much better shape than how we
found them,” Jeremy says. “For these
entrepreneurs, their companies are like
another member of the family. We take
our responsibility to look after them very
seriously. At the same time, we have a
bunch of leading institutions and family
offices that invest money alongside us, so
it’s more than just our interests at stake.”
That’s a pressure Jeremy is used to,
having called on “trusting investors”
to back Anacacia when he first went out
on his own. “When I started Anacacia in
a small office in Sydney’s Double Bay, I
gave up a stable, well-paying job chairing
the private-equity division of a major
bank. I had a very understanding wife- and our first young child – who
encouraged me to draw down on our
mortgage and put almost everything we
had into the business. Fortunately, we
had some trusting investors who, based
on my prior track record, initially put
in A$50 million to invest alongside us
into our strategy of leading SMEs. That
private-equity fund became Australia’s
best-ever performing buyout fund.”
“ We provide that
middle-ground
opportunity, to sell
a majority stake but
keep some equity
to share in the
future upside.”
“We have had a long association with Anacacia and
always enjoy working with them. Their hard working,
outcome-oriented, honest and transparent approach
is consistent with our approach and values.” – Dan
Kramer, Partner, Thomson GeerA LARGE AUSTRALIAN
CORPORATE LAW FIRM.
Thomson Geer
@ThomsonGeer
http://www.tglaw.com.auWe are focused on enhancing the competitive position of our clients
in whatever circumstances they find themselves in.
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