Appen Chairman Chris Vonwiller said: “It has been a very positive and rewarding experience to have Anacacia as a fellow Appen shareholder. Jeremy and his team have already helped strengthen our senior management and Board and position the business for further strategic growth.”

Major brands include the Euromaid, IAG, ARC, Fagor and Elica cooking appliances range supplied to leading retailers in Australia and New Zealand.

Owen Morgan, Managing Director, said: “It is a terrific opportunity to work alongside the talented Anacacia team. Anacacia have demonstrated an outstanding ability to analyse and support the business to make strategic and financial decisions as well as manage the inevitable people side of a traditional family business and we welcome their investment and critical Board contribution.”  

Muir Engineering Group Pty Limited is a leading manufacturer of anchoring and mooring systems for the maritime sector.

Muir design and manufacture a range of equipment for an extensive product range for pleasure, motor and sail yachts, work boats, fast ferries, and customs and defence vessels. John Muir founded the business in 1968 that today exports to over 50 countries and has won numerous awards and has developed a reputation for quality, performance and reliability among vessel and boat builders globally.

John Muir, Executive Director, said: "Muir has been a family owned business for many years now, and in truth it was hard to get comfortable with the idea of a new investor in the business, but Anacacia were supportive, responsive and transparent which gave us confidence to partner with them.  A thorough due diligence process also gave us a lot of time to get to know each other."

Norwest Productions Pty Limited is a major professional audio service provider throughout the Asia-Pacific operating under the Norwest, Oceania and McLean brands.

Norwest rents specialised equipment and provides technical staff to assist with corporate and specialty events, concerts, festivals, broadcast and theatre. Norwest has acquired Mclean Audio and Oceania Audio, two leading professional audio and production hire businesses, since Anacacia's initial investment.  

Chris Kennedy, founder and Chairman of Norwest, said: "We are delighted to have Anacacia Capital as an investor in our business. They have added significant value to our decision making.  Anacacia have helped us make two great acquisitions and strengthened our core business.  In truth, I could not recommend them more highly." 

Planet Services is a leading provider of reliable and cost effective hydraulic solutions for projects and developments and seeks to develop long-term client relationships. Planet brings a capacity to completely manage a hydraulic project from the conception and planning stage, including design through to its completion.

Anthony Alafaci, Managing Director, stated: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Anacacia as investors and partners in Planet Plumbing. We feel very fortunate to have attracted Anacacia who will add a depth of talent to our business going forward."

Norwest Productions Pty Limited is a major professional audio service provider throughout the Asia-Pacific operating under the Norwest, Oceania and McLean brands.

Norwest rents specialised equipment and provides technical staff to assist with corporate a

Norwest Productions Pty Limited is a major professional audio service provider throughout the Asia-Pacific operating under the Norwest, Oceania and McLean brands.

Norwest rents specialised equipment and provides technical staff to assist with corporate a

Rafferty's Garden Pty Ltd is a leading supplier of baby food.  Rafferty’s Garden has grown through product innovation in a market where parents have craved nutritious, well packaged food.

Rafferty’s Garden has responded to this need by being a pioneer of convenient pouch packaging. More importantly, they have focused on improved nutrition through the use of premium and organic ingredients and specialised production techniques avoiding many of the additives of other brands. Rafferty's Garden was named in Australia's BRW 2011 Fast Starter list.

Adrian Pike, founder, stated that Anacacia's “due diligence process was very rigorous and a great exercise for the business. We feel fortunate to have attracted such talented non-executive directors to our business.  Having them invested in the business also helps align everyone’s interests.”

Roofsafe Industrial Safety Enterprises (RIS) is Australia’s largest height safety provider, with a national branch infrastructure to meet its clients’ requirements in Australia or overseas. RIS designs, manufactures, distributes and installs an extensive range of tested and standards compliant height safety products.

Employing ~70 people and with branches in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Hobart and Mackay, and with a wide national and international distribution network, RIS provides the practical, cost effective and compliant fall protection, confined space or rope access solutions systems in Australia and overseas. The company focuses on total solutions for its clients by being clever, complete, capable and competitive.

Michael Bermejo, Managing Director, stated: "Over the years we’ve assembled a great team, a premier list of customers and are very proud of our business achievements to date. We’re excited to welcome Anacacia as fellow shareholders who we feel will help us take the business to the next level of growth".

FORMER PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

Anacacia successfully sold Lomb Scientific in a trade sale in December 2010.  Lomb is a leading distributor of chemicals, consumables and instrumentation to scientific laboratories in the Asia-Pacific region with offices across Australasia.

Anacacia approached Lomb in late 2007 as part of its research into businesses with a low correlation to the economic cycle. Lomb had succession and growth issues where Anacacia could assist.  Anacacia helped recruit a new Managing Director and added 2 directors to the Board.  Over almost 3 years, Anacacia assisted with key strategic, financial and operational decisions to help substantially lift earnings and position the business for a successful sale. Jeremy Samuel, Anacacia's lead director on Lomb, said: "The result was outstanding for the founder's family, management team and Anacacia shareholders".

Alan Lipman, Executive Director of Lomb Scientific before and during Anacacia's investment, said: “Anacacia have added tremendous value to our strategy and operations and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them.  I will gladly give any business owner several million reasons why they should try to entice Anacacia to invest in their business.”