Qld family office buys local fintech; ex Clearview boss named chair

afr.com:

Navigate Global Payments, the foreign exchange and payments fintech which fell into receivership five months ago, has found a saviour – the Tozer & Co family office, which has now completed a $30 million recapitalisation.

The Tozer family office was founded by David Tozer after he left Houlihan Lokey in 2017 where he specialised in distressed and special situations. He’s since quietly built a portfolio which is worth more than $1 billion and employs circa 1500 people across a range of sectors.

Navigate Global was established in 2017 and grew to have some 50 staff in Sydney and Melbourne. It provides hedging and foreign exchange products and has what it describes as a world first end-to-end hedging and payment platform known as NaviHedge. That product allows users to identify, compare and execute FX derivatives contracts and track live payments.

David Tozer of Tozer & Co: Whilst he has been investing since a young age, he formally set up his family office in 2017. 

Under Tozer & Co, Navigate Global will be rebranded Navinici Global Markets. The recapitalisation followed a KPMG-run process, and will include a management buy-in and supportive refinancing from Dinimus Capital Partners, a Melbourne-headquartered credit fund focused on local mid-market corporate opportunities. Simon Swanson, the former chief executive of ClearView, will become Navinici’s new chairman.

The company fell into administration after a difficult period during the COVID-19 pandemic. David Tozer confirmed the recapitalisation and told Street Talk there were “pain points” around foreign exchange services. “Service standards are genuinely terrible, the structuring capability is limited, the execution is single market orientated, and the price is high,”