Track Record

The Arowana investment process is time-tested, collaborative and decisive. Since inception not only have we delivered outstanding returns but importantly have not realised any investment losses in our various companies or investment funds. We believe our genuinely entrepreneurial culture and never-say-die attitude have been the primary drivers contributing to this result.

Being industry agnostic, we are continuously expanding our reach across: solar energy, education, enterprise software, infrastructure services, industrial testing and asset management to name a recent few. Along the way, the team have bought, built, operated, scaled up and sold businesses creating thousands of jobs and considerable economic value. We’ve also gained a priceless set of experiences that form the foundation upon which Arowana has established its reputation.

Under Arowana’s watch and management, many SME’s have flourished. Here is a look at some of our key successes:

Nationwide thermal imaging service group, Thermoscan was acquired from its terminally ill founder in 2010. Under Arowana’s watch the business was transformed from a 30 year old paper-based business into an efficient interactive database-driven business enabling the group to scale and improve the customer experience as well as productivity. In 2019, Thermoscan was acquired from Arowana for a 3.8x multiple on invested capital.

Global solar power provider VivoPower International PLC was started by Arowana in August 2014 with an initial focus on Australia and Southeast Asia. Challenging market circumstances necessitated Arowana to re-strategise and pivot VivoPower’s focus towards the United States. In less than 3 years, VivoPower scaled up to become a profitable global company generating US$18.9m of EBITDA and achieving a listing on NASDAQ in December 2016. It has since built up a 1.8GW portfolio of solar projects in the United States making it one of the largest 3 solar developers in the United States. Arowana maintains a majority shareholding in VivoPower and continues to work closely with its leadership team to overcome growing pains and to scale up.

Vocational education group Intueri Education was established by Arowana in June 2010 and initially comprised one college in Christchurch, New Zealand. Within 6 months of acquiring this college, 2 devastating earthquakes condemned the campus building and rendered the business practically inoperable. Where most would have given up, the Arowana team parachuted into Christchurch and rebuilt the business literally from the ground up. In the following 4 years, Arowana orchestrated a buy-and-build programme that saw Intueri’s profits increase 20-fold culminating in a May 2014 IPO delivering a 7x return to Arowana.

Human resources, events and media publishing company HRM Asia was bought by Arowana in July 2008. Subsequently it became the largest business of its kind in Southeast Asia, growing in value by 20% per year on average. In October 2014 it was sold to Diversified Communications a global events company, delivering a 2.5x return to Arowana.

Enterprise software company RuleBurst was privatised in November 2004 by a consortium led by Kevin Chin who became the joint-largest shareholder and the hands-on CFO of the business. With only 6 weeks of cash to survive, the business was turned around and propelled into growth in a mere 9 months. From humble origins in Canberra, RuleBurst scaled up globally into the United Kingdom, United States and Asia. It was rated in the Magic Quadrant report by Gartner as an enterprise business rules engine leader and was acquired by Oracle Corporation in November 2008. RuleBurst’s original consortium of investors received a 13.8x return on their fully paid ordinary shares and a 2x return on their preference shares.

Arowana Asset Management

Following on from the success of Ruleburst, the Arowana Capital Australasian Micro-Cap PE Fund 1 (AMPEF 1) was launched in July 2007 with the aim of providing succession capital to SME’s in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. It was this fund that originally acquired investments in Evolution, HRM Asia and Thermoscan, among others and has paved the way for what Arowana has become. When the fund was realised in June 2013, investors had achieved an annualised gross return of 33%.

In July 2014, Arowana announced the establishment of a speciality Asset Management division, launching two new funds in the ensuing six months, being the Arowana Australasian Special Situations Fund 1 (AASSF1) and the Arowana Contrarian Value Fund (“ACVF”, formerly known as the Arowana Australasian Value Opportunities Fund).

Established in August 2014, the primary purpose of AASSF 1 was to provide private debt and hybrid financing to SME’s and growth companies in Australia. The fund is currently closed to new investments and is in harvest mode. Arowana is now raising its second private credit fund – the Australian Special Income Opportunities Fund (ASIOF) which will focus on direct lending to Australian SME’s. Arowana aims to grow into one of Australia’s leading non-bank lenders.

The ACVF vehicle was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) as a LIC (listed investment company) in January 2015 and has grown funds under management by over 50% since then with a solid track record of performance to date. (Please refer performance data on website)