The Interview
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52 MINUTES
ADRIAN LOADER
With Rob Langton
FOUNDING PARTNER - ALLEGRO FUNDS
Allegro Funds co-founder talks business red flags and his investment criteria Managing Director of Ready Media Group, Rob Langton, recently sat down with Adrian Loader; one of the joint founders of Australian fund manager Allegro Funds. Having started his career with Arthur Anderson & Co in 1993, Mr. Loader had plenty of anecdotes to reflect on. We’ve parsed through the 51 minute-long conversation to bring you the highlights from this extensive discussion. His criteria for investment “As a private equity fund, the first thing you’re trying to do is actually make a return.” It might seem obvious, but Adrian makes sure to emphasise that a priority for selecting an asset is that a profit can be secured for investors. Specifically, Allegro Funds aim to multiply an initial sum by 300 per cent. “We’re a private equity fund; we’re trying to make three times money.” He highlights the multiplicity of ways that Adrian and his team go about achieving this figure. “There are various ways you can do that. You can do that through structuring on the way in; you can do that through an operational improvement.” But it’s not just about having the capacity to take a business in a positive direction; there also needs to be a market to sell that business to.
“Ultimately, up-front, you’re trying to work out: if I transform this business, do I believe there’s a market to sell this business, and that someone’s actually going to pay me an amount of money for it that I can make my targeted returns [with]?” It’s the fundamental principle of supply vs. demand in action. Yes, Adrian can rejuvenate an organisation and enhance its profitability in a substantial way, but all that effort would be for naught if the market has no interest in that venture. Charbel Hazzouri & Anthony Allegro bought Toll Global Express with no management Last year, Allegro Funds acquired Toll Global Express; an express parcel, freight delivery and domestic forwarding service in Australia, and a transport and contract logistics service in New Zealand. Being that the organisation was part of a larger group, it came without a management team in place. “It’s one of the three divisions of Toll Group. We bought one of those divisions, so it came without a CEO, CFO, Chief Information Officer, Chief Customer Officer.” Adrian believes that Allegro’s proven experience with developing well-equipped, capable management groups was what prompted Toll Global Express’s enthusiasm for the deal. “All the systems were largely Toll systems...
14 – September / October 2022
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