The Interview
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52 MINUTES
JON ADGEMIS
With Rob Langton
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN -THE JAGA GROUP
One of Sydney’s most recognisable business moguls.
Managing Director of Ready Media Group, Rob Langton, recently sat down with one of Sydney’s most recognisable business moguls, Jon Adgemis. Mr. Adgemis has been a first-hand witness to some of the most significant transactions in Australian business history, and with a more recent pivot towards property acquisition and refurbishment, few have his breadth of experience across all sectors of the finance and commercial property world. Here are some of the highlights from Adgemis’ discussion with Mr. Langton. Adgemis joined KPMG in 1999, a year out from the conclusion of his Economics degree, in the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) division. At that time, the organisation wasn’t a big name in the world of M&A’s. “KPMG wasn’t known to be a mover and shaker in the M&A world. It was an offering that they had that essentially was to serve existing clients.” Adgemis and the other members of KMPG’s nascent M&A sector elevated the company’s profile by engaging with some major clients during his initial stint with the company. Most notable was their work to help Reckitt & Colman offload a range of brands they had come to own since acquiring Benckiser.
“It was the first of its kind in terms of starting to look towards a larger deal value, one which we were engaging with private equity as a buyer audience, but being on the other side. It was a bit of stepping stone for KPMG.” After working at KPMG for a few years, Adgemis elected to move to Gresham, to get more public market experience. Adgemis worked with some of the biggest names in the corporate world upon taking his work to Gresham. “One of the first transactions I worked on was the backend of the BHP/Billiton [merger], which was an enormous transaction. [I was] just helping out on some of the bits and pieces towards the end of that.” “And then I went straight into a public markets transaction for Wesfarmers... and then rolled straight into the Delta/Goldfields merger... all transactions were north of a billion dollars, and one of them was the largest transaction in Australian corporate history at that time.” When he eventually returned to KPMG subsequent to his tenure with Gresham, he brought with him a newfound knowledge of the M&A division that would enhance the organisation’s offering.
6 –Summer 2022/2023
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