HESTA and Stafford launch latest co-investment private equity strategy aimed at helping access a broader range of deals
Sydney, Tuesday 18 June 2024 - Stafford Capital Partners is delighted to be able to confirm today “QP4”, a new A$250m global private equity co-investment mandate with HESTA, the A$83 billion Australian industry superannuation fund. The new mandate will enable the Stafford private equity team to build on the successful co-investment strategy first implemented in 2011 for the superannuation fund that has more than one million members predominately working in Australia’s health and community services sector.
The previous A$200m global private equity co-investment mandate “QP3” was fully invested in 3 years and is currently generating strong risk adjusted returns since inception. Co-investments have been made alongside leading global private equity managers into companies operating in a diverse range of industries, including healthcare technology, cyber security, sustainable packaging, financial payments and others.
Commenting on this latest mandate, Stafford Australian private equity lead Daniel Bowden said that the strategy sought to open up smaller deal sizes, providing access across a wider spectrum of the private equity investible universe. Single-asset style continuation vehicles, where HESTA would represent long-term patient capital, were also an area of focus.
“HESTA, as a large institutional investor, is looking for investment opportunities of appropriate scale that can be efficiently executed. This can mean that potentially strong-returning smaller deals may be more difficult to access. QP3 - and now QP4 - enables Stafford to access and complete smaller strong-returning deals on behalf of HESTA.”
“QP4 is also able to complete co-investments sourced by both the HESTA and Stafford investment teams, benefitting from the relationships both organisations have, and underscoring the importance of a 'partnership' style approach to investing that HESTA prefers.”
“This latest mandate further builds on the strong relationship Stafford has with HESTA that has been cultivated over the past 20+ years, and spans multiple regions and business lines,” Mr Bowden said.
HESTA Head of Portfolio Management, Jeff Brunton said the continued development of the relationship with Stafford demonstrated how the Fund was looking to collaborate with key investment partners.
“We see this co-investment vehicle as effectively an incubator for ideas around certain thematics and gives us valuable perspectives around expertise and successful businesses that can lead to further deal flow,” Mr Brunton said.
“This is a great example of how we’re looking to leverage cutting-edge thinking from across our ecosystem of investment partners to help generate ideas and innovation across the portfolio.”
“It’s this total portfolio approach that’s effectively bringing the best global investment thinking to our decision making, which helps us to continue to deliver strong, long-term investment returns for members.”
Media enquiries:
Phil Davey
+61 414 867 188
Phildavey@staffordcp.com
About Stafford Capital Partners
Stafford is an independent private markets investment and advisory firm with USD %%AuM%% billion in funds under management and advice* for more than %%numClients%% institutional clients worldwide. Founded in 2000, Stafford has a global team of 95+ professionals investing in infrastructure, timberland and sustainable private equity through secondaries, primaries, and co-investments. Stafford has been a UN PRI signatory since 2010 and committed to the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative in 2021
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This release neither constitutes an offer to sell nor a solicitation to invest in any of Stafford’s funds. It is for information purposes only and is not a recommendation. It does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to invest in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale would be prohibited or to any person not meeting the required investor criteria.