Penklis in new private equity play
Private equity veteran George Penklis has emerged as a foundation investor in a new private equity fund, Odyssey Private Equity established to target investments in mid-sized growth companies.
Penklis has partnered with experienced private equity professionals Gareth Banks, Jonathan Kelly and Paul Readdy with Odyssey Private Equity having concluded a $275 million fund raising from institutional investors.
The group said Odyssey is targeting expansion capital, replacement capital and management buy-out opportunities across a broad range of industry sectors in Australia and New Zealand with the fund looking to invest in both control and minority equity positions.
The fund will typically invest equity of between $15 million and $40 million in private businesses, with enterprise values up to $100 million. Odyssey will also target larger opportunities through co-investment with Odyssey's investors.
Penklis said the formation of Odyssey had been driven by a number of factors and that the timing had been right for the team. which has a solid performance track record.
The market segment is attractive, with strong deal flow "With private equity firms raising larger funds and moving out of the segment, we saw an opportunity and received strong investor support for the fund," he said. Penklis co-founded the successful private equity firm Quadrant in 1996, leaving the firm in 2014 and remained as an advisor within the industry. Partners Gareth Banks, Jonathan Kelly and Paul Readdy were long-serving directors of CHAMP Ventures, before leaving to raise a new fund. They retain their existing portfolio company board roles.
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