Anchorage Capital Partners is an Australian private equity firm headquartered in Sydney. It specializes in buyout investments in the lower mid-market across Australia and New Zealand.

Company name

In 2015, the company lost a case in the Federal Court against a similarly named United States company, Anchorage Capital Group, which also does business in Australia. The Australians were the first to register their website and claimed that the Americans had infringed on their trademark. The judge accepted the Australians had not copied the name of the pre-existing American company when choosing a name of their own.

Founders and management

Anchorage Capital Partners was founded in 2007 by Phillip Cave, Daniel Wong and Michael Briggs. Cave had worked in private equity during the 1980s on transactions involving Australian brands including Victa and Sunbeam, and later served as an executive director at Macquarie Bank.

The firm’s senior leadership team includes Phillip Cave and managing partners Simon Woodhouse and Callen O’Brien. In 2024, Edward Bostock joined the firm as a managing partner, having previously served as chief financial officer of Wesfarmers Health and worked in private equity at Pacific Equity Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

History

In 2007, Anchorage bought the Australian-owned canned fruit company Golden Circle and sold it about six months later to Heinz in America.

In 2009, it bought the New Zealand master franchiser for Burger King, Antares Restaurant Group, which it sold in 2011 to the Blackstone Group.

Between 2010 and 2014, Anchorage traded several other businesses including First Engineering and Bisalloy Steel Group.

In 2012, the Dick Smith Electronics chain was bought for A$20 million. The chain was floated on the Australian Securities Exchange the following year with a market capitalisation of $520 million. The float was described as the “greatest private equity heist of all time" by Forager Fund Management chief investment officer Steve Johnson. The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association told a Senate inquiry that the chain had been stripped of cash. The company collapsed and the stores closed in 2016 but the brand name was sold to Kogan.com, which continued online sales. The company founder, Dick Smith, blamed Anchorage's greed for the chain going into receivership with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs. However, Anchorage management told the Senate inquiry they had left Dick Smith Electronics in a good financial position.

In 2013, Anchorage reached a first and final close on its second fund at the hard cap of $250 million. The vehicle, which came in oversubscribed, spent less than six months in the market.

In 2014, irrigation company Total Eden was sold to Ruralco for $57 million.

In 2017, Anchorage closed its third fund at over $350 million. The fund was reportedly oversubscribed and reached a final close within three months of launch.

In 2020, Scott's Refrigerated Logistics, which supplies trucks and warehouses to supermarket chains in Australia, was bought for about $75 million from Eagers Automotive. The same year, rail freight company CF Asia Pacific was bought, and rebranded a year later as Rail First Asset Management.

In 2021, Anchorage sold its childcare business Affinity Education to Quadrant Private Equity. Affinity was Australia's second-largest listed childcare business, operating 161 centres with a capacity of 12,682 children. The same year, financial software group GBST Holdings was acquired. Also in 2021, the firm bought clothing and footwear retailer Brand Collective from Pacific Brands and sold it later in the year to the LK Group, the holding company of Melbourne businessman Larry Kestelman.

In 2022, Anchorage completed the sale of Rail First to a consortium of infrastructure investors. The same year, the David Jones department store chain was bought from Woolworths South Africa.

In 2023, Anchorage closed its fourth institutional fund after surpassing its $500 million target. The same year, Anchorage acquired New Zealand–based Green Cross Health, which provides in‑home nursing, personal care, rehabilitation, social support, and household assistance services under the Access Community Health brand. Access Community Health traces its origins to 1927, when members of the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers, known as “bush nurses”, provided healthcare services to people in isolated rural communities. Also in 2023, turnaround plans for Scott's Refrigerated Logistics were hampered due to flooding and the COVID-19 pandemic. The company went into receivership, 1,500 workers were laid off, and plans were made to sell Scott's 500 trucks. Union officials blamed supermarket chain Aldi Süd for refusing to sign a supply chain charter. A spike in fuel prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine also hurt profitability.

In 2026, Anchorage agreed to acquire 100 per cent of HMA International, an Australian industrial products and services group, via a scheme of arrangement.

Portfolio As at December 2025, Anchorage was estimated to manage over $1 billion in assets under management. Previous funds were speculated to have generated returns of over 40 per cent.

Notable former investments include Brand Collective, Burger King, Dick Smith, Golden Circle, RailFirst and Total Eden. Other investments have been in a diverse range of industries such as childcare, facilities management, manufacturing, industrials, technology services and telecommunications.

FundYear closedCapitalAnchorage Capital Partners Fund I 2008 $200 millionAnchorage Capital Partners Fund II 2013 $250 millionAnchorage Capital Partners Fund III 2017 $350 millionAnchorage Capital Partners Fund IV 2023 $500 million

Ability First Australia

Anchorage Capital Partners is associated with Ability First Australia, a not‑for‑profit alliance of disability service providers. Ability First Australia comprises 14 member organisations and states that its members collectively support approximately 20 per cent of participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, employ more than 30,000 staff, and deliver services valued at about $2.4 billion annually.

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