Why Dequity Partners?
The sole reason for Dequity’s existence is to provide direct investment opportunities to wholesale and sophisticated investors. Meet our Partners. We don’t conform to industry norms and are trusted by both investors and project owners.
Our Investment Philosophy
We are asked a lot about Dequity’s investment philosophy. It’s a pretty simple one but highly complex to manage and deliver. In it’s simplest form it has two parts (1) Do Good and (2) Do No Harm. It sounds a little like the Hippocratic Oath, and in some ways that’s exactly what it is – an Ethical Investment Oath. We stand firmly behind our investments and ensure they are executed correctly, which serves to minimise the risk of corruption and increases the opportunity for success.
The Partners at Dequity are 100% aligned in their belief that investment and investing in sustainable business is a force for good.
In our view, there are generally two types of common investment outcomes, being purely philanthropic or purely commercial. We take these two outcomes and mix them together in what we term as “mixed projects”. We believe that social and humanitarian problems are best solved through sustainable business investment.
Typically our investments have global income streams, substantial EBITDA, turnkey management and prioritised returns to our investors. We allow the investor to dictate how the profits are utilised.
We work with a variety of investors, including foundations, charities, private individuals and family offices that share our philosophy and values.
What Problem Do We Solve?
We save investors time and money in evaluating investment opportunities. We screen them from the endless stream of ideas and business proposals that are poorly thought through and badly put together. We save investors from the frustration of dealing with business owners that believe they have a great opportunity but aren’t investment ready.
We de-risk investment opportunities as far as humanly possible. We take time to analyse business proposals and plans, we meet with management, we conduct preliminary due diligence and if we find gaping holes we take action to remedy before we take to our investors. We only take investment opportunities to investors once we are prepared to back them ourselves and help deliver the results.
We offer execution oversight, we are part of the deal in that we will ensure that management deliver to an agreed business plan. We perform the role of directors or advisors on behalf of the investor to save them having to get too involved on a day-to-day basis.
As a general rule, we are remunerated on a success basis. We are remunerated with equity so we are committed for the long-haul and to the delivery of the business plan.
What’s Our Niche?
Our investment niche or “sweet spot” is in the range between Angel Investment and Venture Capital. Loosely translated this means between $5M and $100M. This investment market is usually in high growth potential businesses that are usually owned by one or a few shareholders and are starved of both investment capital and may have limited in management experience.
Are We Different?
Absolutely Yes. We have three very unique Partners that have broad, deep international experience and complimentary skill sets. We are curious by nature and love solving complex challenges. We love investing ourselves and in ourselves. The first question we always ask is “would I invest in this myself?”, only if the answer is “yes” do we proceed. We find this resonates well with our investors.
The private equity investment industry is fragmented and many practitioners find a niche in an industry sector they are comfortable in and stick to it. We think this is a mistake. Focus and clarity are good things but the approach is limiting and does not give investors a balanced portfolio. It’s also a little traditional and dare we say it, boring.
The private equity investment industry has a poor reputation and we’d like to change that. Most people think that all practitioners are the same, greedy, self-serving and unethical. This is a myth that we want to help to debunk. At Dequity we believe in fairness for both the investor and the invested. The investment opportunity needs to be good for both parties or a deal will never complete. Dequity always acts in the interest of it’s investors and we spend a lot of time explaining the views of the investor. We have strong negotiating skills and avoid conflict between the investor and the business owner. If there is too much conflict, more often than not we walk away.
Private equity investments are often surrounded in mystery and described as high risk. They are often overlooked by investors because they do not have experience, knowledge or confidence to invest in an industry in which they are not familiar. Investments are often poorly presented. We deal with these issues by creating clear, thorough and simple documentation backed up by expert opinion. We base all our investment decisions on key investment fundamentals. We identify our investors and do not engage in “cheeky” or “speculative” offers and only act for an investor under a clear mandate.
