In this episode of the Exchange, Craig Emanuel, Tim Whybourne and Ryan Loehr reflect on the 2024 year that’s been and discuss possibilities for 2025.

Trump 2.0; ballooning global deficits; interest rate policy; protectionist policy, geopolitical tension and global equity valuations that look expensive.

There’s a lot to take in. So how should investors be positioning? Tune in to this partners episode to learn more.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.

In this episode, Managing Partner Tim Whybourne catches up with serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and TV personality Steve Baxter. They discuss everything from Steves's background, his early wins in business through to his latest venture investing in anything defence-related where many other funds are not able to.

Steve grew up in north QLD before joining the Military at the age of 15 taking on a military apprenticeship in engineering, electronics, and telecoms. His career in the Army spanned 9 years before he left to launch his first start-up called SE Net from his bedroom. This business was eventually acquired by OZemail under the stewardship of ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. In 2001 Baxter teamed up with his schoolmate and serial tech entrepreneur, Bevan Slattery to launch his second start-up in Pipe Networks before selling that to TPG in 2010. Steve founded River City Labs, Brisbane’s well-known co-working hub in 2012 and has been championing Australian startups and entrepreneurs ever since. He has appeared as a ‘Shark’ on Channel 10’s Shark Tank Australia since 2014.

In this episode, we discuss Steves's latest venture in his new fund called Beaten Zone Ventures which aims to invest in early-stage defence businesses that are developing weapons and systems to assist with holding, aiming and controlling weapons in addition to training soldiers to protect them from opposition lethality.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.

In this episode, Partner and Private Wealth Advisor Ryan Loehr speaks with Armen Panossian, the co-CEO of Oaktree Capital. Oaktree is one of the most renowned investment businesses in the world, most famous for its capability in distressed debt and heavily influenced by Howard Marks who co-founded the business nearly 30 years ago. Beyond distressed debt, Oaktree oversees more than $193B for investors, which include most of the largest US pension funds; many sovereign wealth funds; endowments, large institutions and family offices. The business invests across credit, private equity, real estate and listed equities.

Armen joined the firm in 2007, immediately before it navigated the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 very successfully; and prior to this, worked in distressed debt with Pequot Capital Management, at the time one of the largest hedge funds globally. He holds a B.A. degree in economics with honors and distinction from Stanford University; an M.S. degree in health services research from Stanford Medical School; a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School; and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. Panossian serves on the Advisory Board of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He is a member of the State Bar of California.

We explore a broad range of topics, including the conditions and settings that can make distressed debt investing attractive; example transactions that it has been successful with; and the timing of Oaktree's $15B+ raise for its largest distressed debt fund. We explore the dramatic shift in monetary policy and credit conditions over recent years and its implications; and observe segments of corporate America that are under increasing pressure, especially small-business. We then turn our conversation to private credit, including increased competition in this segment, key risks, relative appeal vs. other asset classes: risks and opportunities that eventuate from illiquidity, structuring, speed and scale; and the anticipated 'funding gap' that companies may face over 2026 and 2027. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.

In today’s episode the partners catch up and discuss everything from the US election, Tim's recent trip to JPM conference in Bangkok through to current opportunities in markets and their predictions on how markets will finish up for the year.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.

Today Managing Partner, Tim Whybourne, speaks with with two senior members of the Pantheon global private equity team in CharlotteMorris and Victor Mayer about their new evergreen private equity fund coming to the Australian market.

Pantheon is a global private asset manager managing over 65bn in discretionary assets across a range of private equity investments. They have 11 offices and 125 investment professionals around the world. They have been at the forefront of private markets investing for more than four decades, driving long-term value creation for their clients through strategies covering the full investment lifecycle.

The Pantheon Global Private Equity Fund (PGPE) aims to provide professional investors around the world with unique exposure to a diversified private equity portfolio sourced by Pantheon’s global investment team. PGPE focuses on secondaries and co-investments, offering diversification by manager, stage, geography, vintage year and industry, all through a single allocation.

• High-conviction private equity portfolio accessed via a single allocation
• Concentrated in secondaries and co-investments, with a buyout and growth equity focus
• Evergreen allocation tool with immediate exposure and quarterly liquidity

Victor Mayer is a managing director and portfolio manager at Pantheon in London and ictor is a member of Pantheon’s European Investment team where he focuses on the origination, analysis and execution of primary investments and co-investments. Prior to joining Pantheon, Victor was a Director at HSBC Alternatives Ltd, where he worked on primary fund investments, secondaries and co-investments across Private Equity, Private Debt and Impact. Before that, he spent 3 years at Access Capital Partners in Paris, having started his career in transaction services at Deloitte in Luxembourg. Victor holds a master’s degree in Corporate Finance from ESSCA in France.

Charlotte Morris is a Partner in Pantheon’s Global Secondaries Team and is responsible for co-managing the activities of Pantheon International Plc (PIP). She is involved in all aspects of Pantheon’s secondaries business including the analysis, evaluation and completion of secondary investment opportunities. Charlotte joined Pantheon in 2006 from Cdb Web Tech, an investment vehicle listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. She serves as a member of Pantheon’s Global Secondaries Investment Committee and Sustainability Committee, and is engaged across Pantheon’s transactional investment activities. Charlotte received a master’s degree in mathematics from Cambridge.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.

In today’s episode, Managing Partner Craig Emanuel sits down with Michael Lukin, Founder and Group Managing Partner of Roc Partners.

Roc Partners have established themselves over the past 25 years as one of Australia’s most successful and reputed investors in mid-sized private companies, having made more than 400 investments and now managing more than $8 billion in investor capital. Roc have delivered superior returns of more than 29% IRR pa within Roc’s secondaries funds.

As Group MD, Mike is responsible for leading client relationships and investment activities in several global markets. Mike was one of the founding partners of Roc Partners following the management buy-out of Macquarie Group’s private markets business unit by its senior executives in June 2014. Mike currently serves as director of Roc Partners investee companies StoneAxe, Australia’s Oyster Coast, Hirepool, National Dental Care, and Infrastructure Advisory Group. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science Honours, Applied Mathematics, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Associate of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.

During this podcast, Craig holds an in-depth discussion with Mike on how the Roc business originated, what are secondaries markets, how investors are able to access secondaries, lessons learned in founding one of the country’s most respected investment firms, through to the current private market industry dynamics and global outlook.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.

In today’s episode, Managing Partner Craig Emanuel sits down with Adrian MacKenzie, Founder and Partner of Five V Capital.

Adrian is the founder and a partner of Five V Capital. A highly experienced investor with over 25 years of private equity experience, Adrian has successfully led and managed Five V’s investments, including Ascender, Madman Film & Entertainment, Canva, Plenti, Education Perfect, the Probe Group, Zenith Investment Partners, Openway Food Co, Penten and Automic. Before founding Five V Capital, Adrian was a managing partner and board member at leading global private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, where he helped establish the Asia Pacific and Australian offices. Five V have invested across 45 Australian and NZ private businesses, taking an average ownership stake of 30%, and having allocated almost $2B of investor funds on behalf of 400 clients. Since inception, Five V’s funds have delivered realised returns of 63% IRR, with an average holding period of 2.9 years per investment.

During this podcast, Craig holds in an in-depth discussion with Adrian on the secrets to searching for, selecting and partnering with outstanding Founder-led businesses. Craig and Adrian discuss topics such as an example of a great portfolio company, through to the current PE industry dynamics, through to what shaped Adrian’s successful career as a Founder of one of Australia’s most prominent PE funds.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.

In today’s episode, Managing Partner, Tim Whybourne catches up with Vu Tran, one of the co-founders of one of Brisbane’s most successful starts ups where they discuss everything from what it was like growing up in Logan as a migrant and what it takes to build a company like Go1, through to leadership and what drives him to get out of bed in the morning and keep solving problems. We finished by touching on his latest venture in defence in particular building rockets to bring Australian manufacturing and defence capabilities back on shore.

Vu Tran was the Chief Growth Officer and co-founder of Go1, a global e-learning company that has grown from humble beginnings in a garage in Brisbane to a worldwide organization with offices in the USA, South Africa, Vietnam, the UK, and Malaysia. Vu is also a practising doctor working in General practice and is passionate about developing innovative ways to promote healthcare with the broader community.

Disclaimer:
The information in this podcast series is for general financial educational purposes only, should not be considered financial advice and is only intended for wholesale clients. That means the information does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the information is appropriate for you and your needs. You should always consult your trusted licensed professional adviser before making any investment decision.