Adamantem’s Koczkar says private equity investing should be easier
Adamantem Capital chief executive Rob Koczkar has asked the Albanese government to lower barriers to entry for investment into private equity, and wants to see a simpler process for business owners exploring merger and acquisition options.
Despite private capital’s growing influence, Mr Koczkar said investing in established, small- to medium-sized businesses was more cumbersome than backing start-ups which benefit from a deluge of venture capital funding sources.
Rob Koczkar, Adamantem Capital’s CEO, spoke to the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Economics on Thursday.
“Once you get into slightly larger companies, you do not have the simplicity of the VCLP [venture capital limited partnership] regime,” the Adamantem CEO told a parliamentary committee on Thursday.
The VCLP program offers tax benefits to fund managers and eligible foreign investors. Overseas investors, for example, can be exempted from paying capital gains tax on their share of a fund’s returns from investing in Australian start-ups.
Speaking at an inquiry into promoting competition and business formation, Mr Koczkar said company tie-ups needed to be simpler for small to medium-sized entities, particularly for businesses that were stuck on plotting their next stages of growth.
“Anything we could do to simplify that conversation would be useful,” Mr Koczkar told the committee. “Having access to a variety of capital and capabilities provides scaffolding that helps companies.”
Super funds tend to allocate their capital to low-fee generating assets such as equities rather than private equity funds because of how super must report returns and expenses.
He cited RG97, a requirement on how fees and costs should be disclosed by super funds in their
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