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Bangkok, Thursday, 21 July 2022 – Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”), an Asia-based private equity firm, has completed a majority investment into N.P. Medical Co., Ltd. and Antnest Holding Co., Ltd. which owns and operates a specialised hospital operating under the name “S-Spine and Nerve Hospital” (“S-Spine” or the “Group”). S-Spine is a leading spine and nerve specialty hospital in Thailand, well-positioned to capture the increasing demand driven by long-term macro fundamentals both in Thailand and the region.

S-Spine was founded in 2017 by Dr. Dittapong Boonampol, a well-respected highly experienced neurosurgeon, and quickly became a leading service provider in spine and nerve treatments in Thailand. The hospital and its highly trained medical teams focus on the root cause of symptoms and use advanced medical techniques and minimally invasive surgery techniques (MIS), including Percutaneous Stenoscopic Lumbar Decompression (PSLD), to provide faster recovery, lower-risk, effective treatment to patients.

Lower back and neck pain are among the most common major ailments in Thailand and the market is growing rapidly, driven by strong underlying demographic and social factors: a rapidly aging population, rising prevalence due to lifestyle changes, growing office syndrome coupled with greater patient awareness, and a continued increase in demand for high-quality healthcare services.

Navis is committed to grow S-Spine alongside Dr. Dittapong and his team, as well as providing growth capital, for the development of related musculoskeletal services, capacity expansion, and exploration of merger & acquisitions opportunities. Navis will work closely with S-Spine’s management team to accelerate growth and further institutionalize the group.

Nicholas Bloy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Navis Capital, commented: “Navis is extremely excited to partner with Dr. Dittapong and S-Spine team to grow and expand S-Spine’s specialised care services in Thailand and the region.”

David Ireland, Senior Partner at Navis Capital, commented: “We see great potential in S-Spine and the continued growing demand in spine, nerve and skeletomuscular care services as well as related specialties in Thailand and possibly neighboring countries. With the strong medical expertise and team, led by Dr. Dittapong, we believe that S-Spine will play an important role in treating the next generation of patients in a safe, highly effective manner that leads to superior medical outcomes and faster recovery periods at competitive price levels.”

Dr. Dittapong Boonampol, CEO and Founder at S-Spine, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Navis as a partner in S-Spine and we look forward to working together as we accelerate the growth of and expand the breadth of our specialised healthcare offerings further.

S-Spine’s value lies within providing high quality and safe treatments that address the root cause of the patient’s pain with minimal disruption to their lifestyle, rather than treating the symptoms. We ensure the highest level of clinically trained medical resources to provide quality treatment that results in patients’ satisfaction is our priority.

At S-Spine Hospital: “We Cure, We Care.”

Navis was advised by PwC, Thanathip & Partners, and Allen & Overy.

Dr. Dittapong was advised by Third500, Finara V Consultant, and Baker & McKenzie.

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in Southeast Asia and its adjacent economies. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 60 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Since inception, Navis has completed over 90 control transactions, of which over 60 have been exited, and consistent with Navis investment strategy, almost all these exits have been to trade buyers.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

Nicholas Bloy
+60 12 322 5493
nbloy@naviscapital.com

Singapore, Thursday, 21 July 2022 – Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”) is pleased to announce that Justin Ferrier has joined Navis as Managing Partner of the new Navis Asia Credit platform(the “NAC”).

Based in Singapore, Justin will be responsible for NAC. Justin was formerly a Managing Director with BlackRock since 2016, where he sat on the private credit investment committee and helped build BlackRock’s Asia-Pacific private credit business.

Prior to Blackrock, Justin founded Myo Capital in 2007 which made private credit investments across the Asia Pacific region. Prior to founding Myo Capital, he was a Director at ADM Capital between 1999-2007, where he sat on the firm’s investment committee. He started his career as a corporate finance executive at S.G. Warburg Group and Peregrine Capital and holds an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Monash University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of South Australia.

Nicholas Bloy, Managing Partner of Navis Capital, commented: “The NAC is an exciting initiative for us, which will leverage the Navis private equity platform for deal flow and will focus on secured credit investments, positioning itself as a partner to businesses that typically resist equity dilution in the early years of a relationship when looking for expansion capital for M&A, organic expansion, or ownership transition, and leverage on Navis’ 20+ years of investment experience in Asia, on the ground market presence, sector knowledge, connectivity and “growth DNA”. This is an exciting chapter for us as we build a new asset class to leverage Navis’ extensive network and provide an alternative funding solution for businesses in the region.”

Justin Ferrier commented: “I am delighted to be joining the Navis team. Navis has invested in Southeast Asia for over 2 decades and has an unparalleled reputation and network in the region with one of Southeast Asia’s largest and strongest investment teams. This, together with Navis’ robust relationships with middle market corporates, CEOs and CFOs, give us a tremendous sourcing edge to provide flexible debt capital to Southeast Asia’s growing mid-market corporates.”

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in Southeast Asia and its adjacent economies. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 60 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Since inception, Navis has completed over 90 control transactions, of which over 60 have been exited, and consistent with Navis investment strategy, almost all these exits have been to trade buyers.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

North Carolina, Tuesday, July 12, 2022 – Eton Solutions, developer of the cloud-based AtlasFive® technology platform for the family office of the future, and new investor Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”), today announced the raising of a US$ 38 million Series C funding round. This investment will help Eton fund the company’s rapid growth, product development, and international expansion as the premier provider of solutions and services for managing the assets and business affairs of ultra-high-net-worth families. This includes the establishment of an international headquarters in the fast-growing Singapore market.

“As family offices grow rapidly both in number and operational complexity, the critical need for a purpose-built technology platform to provide greater operational efficiency, transparency and risk reduction has intensified globally,” said Eton Founder and CEO Robert Mallernee. “Eton Solutions and its AtlasFive® platform and services uniquely address this need. This significant investment by Navis Capital Partners provides additional funding to amplify our platform innovations while supporting the rapid growth we’re currently experiencing in North America and our international expansion.”

Rajendra Pai, Partner at Navis, commented: “Eton Solutions and the AtlasFive® platform enable some of the world’s largest single and multi-family offices to improve their productivity and services to ultra-high-net-worth families. We strongly believe in Eton’s vision, experienced leadership team, and expert skills of its employees. This makes us feel that Eton is the right technology and services partner for family offices worldwide. We are thrilled to become part of Eton’s story and to have the opportunity to help grow such a forward-thinking business.”

In recent years, the growth of ultra-high-net-worth families and individuals has resulted in a significant expansion of family offices globally. According to Ernst & Young, the number of family offices expanded from 1,000 in 2008 to an estimated 10,000 in 2019. Singapore has become the Asian hub for family offices. Over 400 family offices, large and small, have been established in Singapore in the past five years.

“Navis Capital has an extraordinary track record of recognizing and funding growth opportunities globally. They bring exceptional operating excellence, insights, and relationships to our company,” said Satyen Patel, executive chairman of Eton Solutions. “We are delighted that they have chosen to make this strategic growth investment in Eton and welcome them as shareholders.”

“Singapore has become the nexus of the family office industry in Asia,” said Kevin Hayes, President of Eton Solutions. “We are committed to serving this fast-growing market with the best enterprise technology solution and services in our industry. This investment and partnership with Navis will help accelerate achieving that objective.”

An ERP system for family offices, AtlasFive®, was purpose-built to deliver unmatched process efficiency, data accuracy, and risk reduction for ultra-high-net-worth family wealth management. It is the only truly integrated, all-in-one technology platform that seamlessly connects all data, services, and stakeholders within single and multi-family offices, eliminating the need for disconnected point solutions, repetitive data entry, and spreadsheets to reconcile, consolidate, and aggregate data. Family office clients now have easy, secure, and privacy-protected mobile access, visibility and approvals of family office activities and information, including day-to-day net worth information.

Navis Capital Partners

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in Southeast Asia and its adjacent economies. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 60 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Since inception, Navis has completed over 90 control transactions, of which over 60 have been exited, and consistent with Navis investment strategy, almost all these exits have been to trade buyers.

About Eton Solutions

Eton Solutions is a software and services company founded to handle the complexities of servicing ultra-high-net-worth families. Created by family office leaders, Eton Solutions’ flagship product is AtlasFive®, an integrated platform with over US$ 425 billion in assets under administration that holistically aggregates and manages all your office’s data, reporting, and workflow processes. With one source of truth, Eton Solutions leads family offices into the future by maximizing efficiency and minimizing errors and risk. Eton Solutions has experienced a CAGR of over 100% since its inception.

https://eton-solutions.com/

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

Hong Kong, Wednesday, 6 July 2022 – Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”) announced that it has signed definitive documentations to sell its entire interest in Torque Group International Fortune (“Texon”) to Coats Group plc (“Coats”), the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer.

Established in 1947, Texon provides high quality structural components to the global footwear market and has a long heritage as a proven supplier to the world’s leading brands. The business is focused on sustainable innovation and supplies high-performance, sustainable, materials, including heel counters, toe puffs and insoles to the highly attractive premium athleisure footwear market. Texon is a global business with headquarter in Hong Kong, with factories in the UK, Germany, Italy, China and Vietnam, as well as local presence in more than 90 countries.

Navis took control of Texon in April 2016. Since then, Navis has worked closely with the senior management team to strengthen Texon’s leadership in the footwear structural components market. Key operational initiatives included review of strategic growth plan, dedicated focus and investments into sustainability and innovation, revamp of Key Account Management, as well as succession planning with next tier of managers being lined up. During its holding period, Navis also made a strategic bolt-on acquisition in Italy which allowed Texon to expand into technical fabrics, with local production capacity.

Rodney Muse, Managing Partner, Navis Capital, commented: “When we invested in Texon in 2016, we clearly saw the potential in its competitive, innovative, high-performance and sustainable products. Texon will continue to disrupt the premium footwear and accessories industry and we wish our trusted partners together with the senior management team all the best for the next stage of their global growth journey with Coats.”

Jelle Tolsma, CEO, Texon, commented: “We are very pleased to be joining Coats. We thank Navis for their support and strategic guidance of the business over the recent years. We believe the last 6 years with Navis has created a strong platform to continue driving sustainability and innovation. We believe that Coats provides us with a global platform to support the business and further accelerate our growth.”

Navis is being advised by BDA Partners and William Blair.

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in Southeast Asia and its adjacent economies. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 60 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Since inception, Navis has completed over 90 control transactions, of which over 60 have been exited, and consistent with Navis investment strategy, almost all these exits have been to trade buyers.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

Malaysia, Wednesday, 8 December 2021: Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”) announced today the sale of its entire interest in Pinnacle Inspection Ltd (“QIMA”). Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (“CDPQ”), a Canada-based global investment fund, is the new equity investor alongside the founder, Sebastien Breteau, and his senior management team.

QIMA is a tech-enabled business services provider and was founded in Hong Kong in 2005 under the name of AsiaInspection. It changed its name to QIMA in 2019 to reflect the broader services it offered and its ambition for a global presence. Today, QIMA operates out of 88 countries offering testing, inspection, certification (TIC) and audit services in the consumer goods, food and life sciences verticals.

A co-controlling 40% stake in QIMA was acquired by Navis from passive financial investors, the founder and his management team in December 2017. Over the last 4 years, QIMA has grown its revenue at a CAGR of 32% and EBITDA at 26%. QIMA proved to be a highly resilient company and was able to grow EBITDA through 2020 despite the severe COVID-19 impact on global supply chains. More generally, QIMA has also successfully navigated the shifting of global supply chains from China to Southeast Asia.

During Navis’ tenure with QIMA, the company has accelerated its M&A agenda and completed 8 acquisitions since 2017 with 4 more under completion at the time of writing. These acquisitions have added significantly towards QIMA’s capabilities such as adding new attractive locations for lab testing in consumer goods, an additional food inspection capability in Brazil, and a life sciences testing capability in Europe. QIMA has been able to integrate these acquisitions onto its digital platform, progressively reducing operational costs and improving margins, thereby making these acquisitions highly value accretive.

Nicholas Bloy, the Founder and Managing Partner at Navis, commented: “We were fully convinced that QIMA’s tech-enabled approach to TIC services provided a material competitive advantage vs. others in the industry. This proved to be the case, and the management team has delivered on every dimension that was expected of them. QIMA will continue to disrupt the TIC industry with its new SaaS offering, QIMAOne, and we wish our dear friend Sebastien and his senior management team all our best wishes for the next stage of their global journey with CDPQ”.

JP Morgan was the exclusive financial advisor to Navis Capital and QIMA on the transaction.

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in and around Asia. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to a limited number of well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 60 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Navis has a long and proven track record in pan-Asian private equity, with over 85 control transactions across the Asian region completed since its establishment.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

Nicholas Bloy
+60 3 2302 3888
nbloy@naviscapital.com

Kuala Lumpur, 31 July 2021: Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”) is pleased to announce the final close of two Navis Asia Funds.

Navis Asia Fund VIII, L.P.

Navis Asia Fund VIII, L.P. (including certain parallel and related vehicles, “Navis VIII”) is a successor fund to Navis Asia Fund VII, L.P., the investment period of which finished in July 2021. The fund will continue to focus on pre-dominantly controlling investments in growing companies across Southeast Asia, as well as in Australia / New Zealand and in Hong Kong / China.

Navis VIII has closed at a total of USD 900 million and has already completed several strategic investments in healthcare, private education and food-related consumer goods across the Asia Pacific region.

Navis Asia Green Loop Fund, L.P.

Navis Asia Green Loop Fund, L.P. (the “NGL Fund”) is the continuation fund for 5 Navis Asia Fund VI, L.P. portfolio companies. A unique characteristic these companies share is that they have all built a core climate and sustainability theme into their respective business models, and will benefit from rising regional and global interest in businesses that can create value within these themes whilst contributing to a reduction in the carbon footprint of their activities. These investments include electronic waste recycling with a particular focus on the development of a global network of lithium-ion battery recycling facilities, in plastic-free and locally-sourced food retail and the low carbon footprint production of protein and industrial goods.

The NGL Fund closed at a total of USD 450 million.

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages over USD 5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in and around Asia. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to a limited number of well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 59 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff in six offices across the region. Navis has a long and proven track record in pan-Asian private equity, with over 80 control transactions across the Asian region completed since its establishment.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

Hong Kong, Monday, 5 July 2021: Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”) announced today the sale of its controlling interest in Amazon Papyrus Chemicals Group (“Amazon Papyrus”) to The Longreach Group (“Longreach”), an independent private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Established in 2000, Amazon Papyrus is a leading specialty process chemical solution provider to the pulp and paper industry in Asia with a proven track record of business growth and expanding long-term customer relationships. Amazon Papyrus is headquartered in Hong Kong with a regional presence across Asia.

A controlling stake in Amazon Papyrus was acquired from the original founders in January 2014. Since then, Navis has worked closely with the senior management team to strengthen Amazon Papyrus’ leading position across Asia by increasing market share in the pulp and paper process chemical sector via both organic and M&A initiatives. During its holding period, Navis assisted management with a strategic bolt-on acquisition in Thailand which accelerated market share growth with local production capacity. Key operational initiatives included improved capabilities in the overall finance, procurement and corporate governance functions, which were supported by ERP and CRM infrastructure upgrades. Navis also assisted Amazon Papyrus in honing working capital which, when combined with the company’s strong cash generation, allowed for the payment of significant dividends.

Rodney Muse, Managing Partner, Navis Capital, commented: “When we invested in Amazon Papyrus, our objective was to bring Navis expertise to enhance the operational efficiency and market position of an already outstanding business. We worked closely with our management partners to accomplish this objective. The business performed strongly throughout COVID-19, demonstrating the strength of management and the resilience of the business model. We wish the management team all the best as Amazon Papyrus embarks on the next stage of its growth journey with The Longreach Group.”

Michael Grundy, Co-founder, Amazon Papyrus, commented: “I am very excited to have Longreach as our new Partner. Longreach will bring new ideas and different capabilities (including in the Japan market) to our company which will help us to develop and grow to a higher level. I want to thank the Navis team for their support and guidance over the recent years.”

BDA Partners was the exclusive financial advisor to Navis Capital and Amazon Papyrus on the
transaction.

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in and around Asia. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to a limited number of well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 58 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Navis has a long and proven track record in pan-Asian private equity, with over 80 control transactions across the Asian region completed since its establishment.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

Kuala Lumpur, Monday, 24 May 2021: Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”), an Asia-based private equity firm, has completed a majority investment into Aurelius Healthcare (“Aurelius” or “the Group”), to back a highly credentialed management team to build a healthcare services platform that will invest into brownfield and late-stage greenfield hospital opportunities primarily in Malaysia.

The Aurelius team will be led by Dato Amir Firdaus, who brings 25 years of healthcare experience with him, having successfully worked with major healthcare groups in Malaysia, SEA and the Middle East. Collectively, the team has consistent and extensive experience in the healthcare industry covering various aspects of hospital management, business development and corporate governance to make this platform a success.

Currently, Aurelius has signed definitive agreements for two (2) tertiary hospitals at an Enterprise Value of c. USD 80 million. The first opportunity is the acquisition of an existing c. 100 bed hospital. The second opportunity is an acquisition of a nearly-completed c. 200 bed hospital that will be operational in c. 12-15 months time. Aurelius is also actively in discussions for another 4-5 opportunities and will seek to expand this pipeline rapidly with Navis’ participation.

Malaysia’s healthcare market has strong underlying fundamentals with projected growth of 8-10% CAGR over the next few years. There is increasing demand for private healthcare, driven by growth in the middle-income segment, ageing population, rising insurance penetration and under-investment in public hospitals over the past years. In particular, there is a gap in high quality care outside the Klang Valley for the middleincome population. Aurelius aims to fill the gap by bringing world class healthcare quality management practices into these areas in either greenfield or brownfield sites.

Navis is committed to grow Aurelius alongside Dato Amir and his team, with an aim to have 5-10 hospital operating within the platform during our investment holding period. In this regard, Navis will be working closely with Aurelius on merger & acquisitions opportunities (“M&A”), on the provision of growth capital and on the institutionalization of the platform itself in terms of governance and best practice.

Nicholas Bloy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Navis Capital, commented: “This investment will accelerate the provision of private healthcare services to relatively affluent but under-served communities across Malaysia”.

Edwin Fua, a partner at Navis Capital, commented: “With Dato Amir and the Aurelius team, we strongly believe that we have the A-team that will create substantial, sustainable value in the Malaysian healthcare space. His collaborative style matches well with our own values and we look forward to an exciting journey ahead with him and his team”.

Dato Amir Firdaus, Managing Director and Founder at Aurelius, commented: “Aurelius Healthcare is honoured and delighted for this partnership with Navis Capital. We are committed to ensuring our Patient, Doctors, Teammates and communities we serve shall have great experiences.

The collective values in Aurelius Healthcare assets shall strive towards provision of high quality, consistent, safe, ethical healthcare outcomes through the highest level of trained clinical teams that are technology enabled. This cocooned in comforting ambience for our patients, families and teammates.

It shall be our honour in caring for patients/communities and collaborate with in supporting Ministry of Health, Malaysia and our partners in the corporate sector.

“To Care, To Think, To Breathe, To Love – Aurelius Healthcare”

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion in private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in and around Asia. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to a limited number of well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising 58 individuals, supported by 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Navis has a long and proven track record in pan-Asian private equity, with over 80 control transactions across the Asian region completed since its establishment.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners
Nicholas Bloy
+60 3 2302 3888
nbloy@naviscapital.com

Singapore, 18 January 2021: Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”), an Asia-based private equity firm, has completed an investment in Moneythor Pte Ltd (“Moneythor”). Founded in 2013 by banking technology veterans and digital entrepreneurs with a strong background in computer science and applied mathematics, Moneythor is a technology company providing financial institutions and fintech firms with solutions to enhance their digital banking services, with a prime focus on the generation of data-driven personalised and contextual recommendations for their customers. Moneythor is headquartered in
Singapore and is present in London, Paris, and Tokyo.

Traditional banks are facing new challenges from customers, regulators, market condition and disruptors. Customers expect banks to simplify their lives and have deep understanding of their needs and goals through data while protecting their money and identity. Moneythor’s open banking-enabled personalised content enables banks to deepen customer engagement which is imperative to delivering engaging digital experiences to users through its Artificial Intelligent (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) powered engine. Moneythor provides financial institutions with a cloud-native software solution to enhance their digital banking services across multiple channels such as mobile, web, ATMs and chatbots. Driven by data, it focuses on the delivery of real time, personalized contextual and actionable recommendations, nudges and insights to the banks’ customers. Moneythor supports traditional financial institutions, card issuers and fintech firms including virtual banks and digital wallet providers in many countries around the world; with penetration focus in Asia and Africa.

Olivier Berthier, the CEO and co-founder of Moneythor, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Navis as shareholders in Moneythor and we look forward to partnering as we accelerate the growth of the business. This significant investment is a testimony of the international success of our solution in helping financial institutions enhance their digital banking services to make them more personalised and contextual for their customers. It is also an acknowledgement of the ongoing growth of the market fuelled by new regulations such as Open Banking and new digital & virtual bank licenses globally.”

Rajendra Pai, Partner at Navis, commented: “Digital Banking and FinTech is growing and quickly evolving to be a part of consumers’ everyday lives in markets across the globe. In these days of elevated customer expectations Moneythor’s solutions synthesising insights through AI and ML help make digital financial services more relevant, more personal and insightful for customers thereby creating incredible value and customer experiences. We strongly believe in the vision, skills, and expertise of the management and the broader team at Moneythor and are thrilled to be a part of this story and look forward to taking Moneythor to the next level of growth and beyond.”

Moneythor also looks forward to working closely with an affiliate in the Navis family, DZ Card, to open new markets where DZ Card has strong relationships and an established client base. Together Navis expects both Moneythor and DZ Card to offer a wider suite of product and service offerings to customers in financial service sector.

Navis was advised by PwC and Ashurst.

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion in public and private equity capital and focuses on investments primarily in and around Asia. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to a limited number of well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising approximately 60 individuals, supported by over 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Navis has a long and proven track record in pan-Asian private equity, with over 80 control transactions across the Asian region completed since its establishment.

About DZ Card

Founded in 1971, DZ Card is a leading secured smart card solution and payment security system provider headquartered in Thailand, with subsidiaries in India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Tanzania. The firm is one of the top 10 largest secured smart card providers globally with strong relationships with key banks, financial institutions, telecom operators and major retailers in over 40 countries. DZ Card is well established in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, India, and Africa and Navis expects DZ Card
to continue to capture growth in these markets; and strengthen and expand the firm’s position into the secured payment solution sector.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners

Sydney, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 – Navis Capital Partners (“Navis”) confirmed it has signed definitive documentation to sell its interest in the Australian operations of Modern Star (“Modern Star”) to Pacific Equity Partners (“PEP”), an Australia based private equity firm.

The transaction values Modern Star at an Enterprise Value of over A$600 million with key senior management reinvesting in the business. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2020.

Modern Star is a digitally enabled e-commerce provider of educational resources to Australian early childhood centres and schools with a 60+ year heritage. The business is the outright market leader with a one-stop shop offering of 30,000+ SKUs across Australia and New Zealand.

Modern Star was acquired from founders in September 2014 in a transaction that valued the business at approximately A$215 million. Since then, Navis has been instrumental in transitioning the business from a traditional B2B supplier to a digitally enabled e-commerce provider of education resources, which has allowed Modern Star to consistently grow at ~9-10% p.a. organically compared to market growth of ~5% p.a. Key operational initiatives included sales force investment to drive growth into a new channels, supply chain efficiencies and an organisational restructure. During its hold period, Navis also assisted management with 9 strategic bolt-on acquisitions which accelerated expansion and step-changed market share.

As part of the transaction, Navis will retain its stake in Modern Star’s China business (“Wisdom”). Navis continues to see strong long-term prospects for the business as the Chinese early childhood education sector continues to recover strongly from COVID-19 and Wisdom’s premium brand position will likely benefit from any consolidation in the market.

Philip Latham, Head of Navis Capital Australia, commented: “When we invested in Modern Star our objective was to leverage Modern Star’s platform to reach almost every K-12 educational institution in Australia, grow share of wallet and double its market share, which we have successfully accomplished. The business also performed strongly during COVID-19, demonstrating the resilience and diversification of the B2B platform. We wish the management team all the best as Modern Star embarks on the next phase of its growth journey with PEP. As for Wisdom, we continue to see strong growth prospects for the brand and the long-term macro thematics underpinning the kindergarten sector in China.”

Peter Boyd, who joined Modern Star as CEO in 2017, will continue in his role under new owners PEP. Mr Boyd commented: “We are proud to be the market leader in the Australian education resources sector and believe the last 6 years with Navis has set a strong platform for future growth. We thank Navis for their guidance and stewardship of the business as many growth and operational efficiencies were successfully implemented under their strategic direction. We are also impressed by PEP’s deep understanding of the education sector and firmly believe they share our passion for providing teachers with high-quality educational resources that drive learning outcomes and we look forward to a strong partnership.”

Navis is being advised by Luminis Partners, Morgan Stanley, Herbert Smith Freehills and EY.

About Modern Star

Modern Star is a digitally enabled e-commerce provider of educational resources to Australian early childhood centres and schools with a 60+ year heritage. The business is the outright market leader with a one-stop shop offering of 30,000+ SKUs across Australia and New Zealand. Modern Star comprises two main divisions, being:

• Education: leading provider of education resources in ANZ, with an unrivalled track record in product curation and innovation. The Education division sells a range of 25,000+ products to early childhood centres, primary schools, high schools and out-of-hours school care centres; and,
• Wholesale: market leader for supplying educational toys to specialty wholesale and independent customers, with exclusive rights to 40+ of the “world’s best” toy brands and 5,000+ products.

About Navis Capital Partners Limited

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately US$ 5 billion and focuses on investments primarily in and around Asia. Navis contributes both capital and management expertise to a limited number of well-positioned companies with the objective of directing strategic, operational and financial improvements. Navis has one of the largest private equity professional teams in Asia, comprising over 60 individuals, supported by over 30 administrative staff, in six offices across the region. Navis has a long and proven track record in pan-Asian private equity, with over 80 control transactions across the Asian region completed since its establishment.

Contact details: Navis Capital Partners