Former CEOs raise $150 million for new disruptive fund
Evans and Partners founder, David Evans, has assembled former chief executives to raise up to $150 million for the soon to be released Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Global Disruption Fund.
The investment committee would also include:
- David Thodey, former CEO of Telstra and current chairman of CSIRO;
- Richard Goyder, managing director of Wesfarmers;
- Paul Bassat, co-founder of Seek and Square Peg Capital;
- Sally Herman, director of Suncorp Group Limited; and
- Jeffrey Cole, research professor and director of the Centre for the Digital Future of USC Annenberg.
The new fund would be expected to provide investors with exposure to big name technology companies, benefiting from disruptive innovation, and would offer diversification from traditional Australian equities.
The initial portfolio would include Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba, Netflix, Apple, Microsoft and Visa.
However, the fund would also invest in a selection of smaller companies with the potential to “successfully disrupt existing markets”.
Walsh & Company Investments Limited has been chosen as the fund’s responsible entity.
Units in Evans and Partners Global Disruption Fund would be issued at $1.60 each and would be expected to trade on the ASX from 31 July.
Recommended for you
Outflows from an Australian private markets fund manager have caused FUM at Pacific Current to decline by $1 billion in the last quarter.
Former RIAA chief executive Simon O’Connor has joined the ethical advisory panel at U Ethical Investors.
Financial services leaders are “all cashed up with nowhere to grow” when it comes to M&A activity, according to Deloitte, with 90 per cent saying they have strong balance sheets ready for an acquisition.
As fund managers are urged to diversify their product ranges, they are finding a faster way to do this is via an acquisition of existing firms but experts say it is not without potential culture clashes.