Anchorage Capital Partners locks in $500 million-plus for Fund IV

afr.com:

Anchorage Capital Partners’ busy dealmakers have stocked up on more than $500 million for their fourth buyout fund, while they chase ASX-listed radio player Southern Cross Media in a tie-up with ARN Media.

Street Talk can reveal Anchorage’s Fund IV has drawn commitments from pensions funds, endowments and fund-of-funds based in Australia, the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The fund, which commenced raising just over a year ago, is understood to have been oversubscribed when Anchorage shut the books last week, punching through its original $500 million target.

Anchorage Capital Partners founder Phil Cave has progressively handed over day-to-day management to three managing partners. Daniel Munoz

The Sydney firm had its three managing partners Callen O’Brien, Beau Dixon and Simon Woodhouse, alongside director Ben Ware leading the charge on the cash call. They were working from a decent report card, having returned circa three-times money to investors from older, fully realised funds, representing a 40 per cent weighted average IRR.

It should give Anchorage the firepower to keep sniffing out deals within its usual hunting grounds of special situations and operational turnarounds in Australia. The team loves getting its hands on anything beaten-down or with a few optical hairs on it – and they’re not afraid of a complex carve-out.

In the past 12 months, Anchorage has added three companies to its stables. It signed a deal to buy185-year-old department store chain David Jones before Christmas last year from Johannesburg-listed Woolworths Holdings Ltd. Also in 2022, it bought dual-listed Evolve Education’s Kiwi centres as it reentered childcare after selling Affinity Education to rival PE firm Quadrant.