Quadrant Private Equity (also simply known as Quadrant) is an Australian

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

investment firm based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. The company was founded as Quadrant Capital in 1996 by Chris Hadley. Quadrant hosts multiple

investment funds An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages inc ...

which invest in businesses across a wide array of industries and sectors, specifically targeting management buyouts and

growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new mark ...

transactions. The first three Quadrant funds delivered a collective 37% return between 1996 and 2006. The firm owns or co-owns a number of well-known Australian companies including

Journey Beyond Journey Beyond is the business name (together with more than a dozen other related names) of Experience Australia Group Pty Ltd, a private equity-owned company known mainly for operating Australian interstate experiential tourism trains (''The ...

, Barbeques Galore, Timezone and Darrell Lea Quadrant is Australia's largest

fitness centre A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health ser ...

operator through acquisitions of brands including

Fitness First Fitness First is an international fitness centre brand founded in 1993 in the United Kingdom. The company owned and operated its clubs around the world until financial pressures saw parts of the company sold off to various owners in different reg ...

Jetts Fitness Jetts Fitness is an Australia-based chain of fitness centers. It was the first gym to market with 24/7 access, no lock in contracts, low fees and member-friendly policies. In addition to successfully navigating the business through the pandem ...

and

GoodLife Fitness GoodLife Fitness Centres Inc. is the largest health club company in Canada with over 450 locations across the country, under the banner of four brands.

. Quadrant has floated a number of its interests on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

(ASX) including

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Virtus Health Virtus Health is an Australian company, headquartered in Sydney, that provides assisted reproductive technology, specialist pathology and day hospital services. Today, Virtus is one of the top five providers of assisted reproductive services in th ...

Isentia Isentia is a media intelligence and data technology company owned by Access Intelligence and headquartered in Sydney, Australia. It has a corporate history dating from 1982. It has offices in Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth (Au ...

APN Outdoor APN Outdoor was an Australian outdoor advertising company based in Sydney, Australia. History APN Outdoor was founded by APN News & Media in 2004 when it consolidated the operations of its acquired outdoor ad firms Cody, Australian Posters and ...

, Bapcar (previously Burson Auto Parts) and

Estia Health Estia Health is an Australian aged care operator floated by Quadrant Private Equity in December 2014 when it was valued at $725 million. It operates 69 facilities across Australia and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The compan ...

Notable investments

Quadrant bought

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

in 2006 for NZ$275 million, floating the company on the

ASX Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

three years later for around AU$350 million. In 2007, Quadrant acquired Australian-owned

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

restaurants

Red Rooster Red Rooster is an Australian fast food restaurant chain founded in 1972 that specialises in roast chicken, chicken burgers and fried chicken. Their product range includes whole roasts, half roasts, wraps, burgers, salads, beverages and desserts ...

Chicken Treat Chicken Treat is an Australian barbecue chicken fast food restaurant chain that was founded and primarily operates in Western Australia. As of December 2022, Chicken Treat has over 60 outlets within Western Australia, one in Central Queensland, ...

and

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in deals collectively worth A$240 million, forming Quick Service Restaurant Holdings (renamed in 2017 as

Craveable Brands Craveable Brands Ltd (formerly known as Quick Service Restaurant Holdings) is an Australian fast food holding company. It owns the Red Rooster, Oporto (restaurant), Oporto, and Chicken Treat brands with 580 restaurants in Australasia and Southe ...

). The group of 620 stores was sold in 2011 to

Archer Capital Archer Capital is an Australian private equity investment firm based in Sydney. It was founded as GS Private Equity in 1996. Archer Capital hosts multiple investment funds which invest in businesses across a wide array of industries and sectors, ...

for A$450 million. Quadrant purchased a half-stake in advertising company

in 2011, before acquiring the remaining stake from

APN News & Media Here, There & Everywhere (HT&E), formerly known as APN News & Media, is an Australian media company. Divisions include broadcast radio and Out-of-home advertising. The company previously had assets in New Zealand, and previously owned Adshel ...

in 2013 for around A$70 million. It was listed on the ASX in 2014. In 2012, Quadrant and

Ironbridge Capital Ironbridge Capital is an Australian equity firm that invests in Australian and New Zealand businesses. It invests in buyouts and expansions of medium to large sized businesses. Ironbridge was founded in 2003 by Neil Broekhuizen, Paul Evans, Juli ...

formed BBQSAM Holdings after acquiring retailers Barbeques Galore and

Amart Furniture Amart Furniture (previously known as Super Amart) is an Australian founded furniture retailer with 67 stores Australia-wide. Amart was founded by John van Lieshout in 1970 in Brisbane, Queensland. Amart Furniture is currently majority owned by ...

. Quadrant purchased

Zip Industries Zip Industries is a privately owned Australian business founded by Michael Crouch AC. It manufactures and markets instant boiling water systems. These are sold in more than seventy countries, where they are specified for use in kitchens, hospit ...

in 2013 from its founder, and after abandoning an IPO offloaded the company to

Culligan Culligan is a global water treatment company with network of dealers and direct operations spawn across 90 countries with 1,000 dealers, over 600 in North America alone, and over 7,500 employees. History Culligan was founded in 1936 by Emmett C ...

in 2017 for around US$550 million. In 2014, Quadrant purchased a 45% stake in Canberra Data Centres for A$140 million, selling the businesses two years later. The deal was recognised with an award from The Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL). In 2015, Quadrant purchased

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

-based pet food company VIP Pet Foods for A$410 million. After renaming the company The Real Pet Food Company, Quadrant sold the business to a foreign

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

including Singapore's

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, or simply Temasek, is a Singaporean state holding company owned by the Government of Singapore. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek owns and manages a total of US$496.59 billion (S$671 billion) in assets u ...

and Chinese firms Hosen Capital and New Hope Group for A$1 billion in 2017. In 2016, Quadrant acquired restaurants owned by chef

Neil Perry Neil Arthur Perry AM (born 29 June 1957) is an Australian chef, restaurateur, author and television presenter. He also is the co-ordinator for Qantas Flight Catering under his company Rockpool Consulting. He also cooks high quality Korean B ...

through its Urban Purveyor Group for a reported A$65 million, creating the Rockpool Dining Group. Quadrant acquired a majority stake in Great Southern Rail in 2016, operator of the ''

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, l ...

'' and ''

The Ghan ''The Ghan'' is an experiential tourism oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. O ...

'' train journeys, folding the company into its investments in Cruise Whitsundays and Rottnest Express to form tourism company Experience Australia Group. Also in 2016, Quadrant Private Equity formed Fitness and Lifestyle Group, after purchasing

Goodlife Health Clubs Goodlife Health Clubs is a chain of health clubs, with more than 80 locations in Australia and also in New Zealand. See also *Australian Institute of Personal Trainers The Australian Institute of Personal Trainers (AIPT – RTO 32363) is a pr ...

, Hypoxi and the Australian arm of

, becoming the largest operator of fitness centres in Australia. The holding company is partially-owned by

Oaktree Capital Management Oaktree Capital Management is an American global asset management firm specializing in alternative investment strategies. As of March 31, 2022, the company managed $164 billion for its clientele. The firm was co-founded in 1995 by a group that ...

. Queensland-based Go Health Clubs were added in 2017. In 2017, Quadrant acquired a partial stake in gaming arcade company Timezone. In 2017, Quadrant sold their majority share of Icon Group, Australia's largest oncology provider, in a reported $1.1 billion deal. Quadrant purchased an 80-90% stake in confectionary company Darrell Lea in 2018 in a deal worth around A$200 million. In 2019, Quadrant bought auction business Grays Online for A$60 million from Eclipx Group. In 2020, Quadrant bought the Enterprise business from Arq Group as part of a consortium for A$35 million. Quadrant acquired Jaybro, a supplier to the construction and infrastructure sector operating in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, in March 2022.

Funds

Quadrant Private Equity has operated a total of 9 individual funds.

References

External links

* {{officialwebsite, http://quadrantpe.com.au/ Private equity firms of Australia Investment companies of Australia Privately held companies of Australia Holding companies of Australia Financial services companies established in 1996 Financial services companies based in Sydney Australian companies established in 1996 Holding companies established in 1996