CHAMP Ventures exits with more than 3.5 times cash

CHAMP Ventures, the Australian mid-market private equity arm of CHAMP Private Equity, has made more than a 3.5 times cash return on an investment it made late 2004 in ATF Hire, a domestic supplier of temporary fencing, in a secondary sale, according to an  executive at the firm.

3.5 times cost for CHAMP

CHAMP Ventures invested a total of A$9.5 million in the company on two separate occasions for a holding of more than a 40 percent stake in ATF. The latest investment was the acquisition of Deck Guardrail, a temporary fencing and height safety hire business in Australia, in January, Stuart Wardman-Browne, a director at CHAMP said.

After completing the sale worth over A$130 million ($99 million; €77 million) to Quadrant Private Equity, an rival firm, CHAMP Ventures will exit the business. Derek Rynenberg, founder and managing director of ATF, will sell down his stake while retaining a significant investment. Quadrant will own over 70 percent of the business when the transaction is completed at the end of November.

ATF’s revenues have more than doubled CHAMP Ventures first invested in the company in late 2004, according to a statement.

Last November, Quadrant raised $265 million in a debut fund to focus on mid-market buyouts and expansion capital opportunities in Australia and New Zealand.

In April this year, CHAMP Ventures closed a new $300 million fund, its sixth. Its most recent investment, made in May, was in RoyalPlast, a Singapore-based plastic sheet distributor which has operations in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and China.