ANZ Private Equity
15 November 2004
ANZ Private Equity Invests in Green Acres Franchise
ANZ Private Equity has today announced an investment in the Green Acres Franchise Group that enables Green Acres to
significantly accelerate its corporate development plan.
ANZ Private Equity, in conjunction with the National Bank, has provided Green Acres with an equity and debt package
totalling $10 million. The transaction results in a shareholding of 43 percent for ANZ Private Equity. The other
shareholders are Green Acres directors Logan Sears and Andrew Chisholm.
Green Acres has applied the funding to the repurchase of two Green Acres master franchises and the Hire A Hubby
franchise company, significantly expanding its market share in the domestic services business. It intends to make
additional purchases of branded franchise businesses, with a view to further growth and an initial public offering
within three years. With the investment by ANZ, Green Acres has a total capitalisation of approximately $10 million.
The Co-Head of ANZ Private Equity, Steve Byrom, said the investment in Green Acres was highly significant for the bank
because it was the first occasion on which a ‘Wall Street To Main Street’ banking solution had been provided to a
National Bank customer. “Being able to offer this kind of solution to National Bank customers is a direct benefit of
integrating our offering to corporate and commercial customers following the merger of ANZ and The National Bank earlier
this year,” he said. “This will be the first of many such occasions.”
The ‘Wall Street to Main Street’ offering provides a combination of equity and debt (eg. mezzanine debt) tailored to the
individual circumstances of the customer company and its owner/s. The offering can be structured to facilitate business
strategies for growth, succession, exit etc. ANZ has been the only New Zealand bank making this type of offering
available to the broad sweep of commercial customers. It has made equity capital available to customers over $2.5
million through ANZ Development Capital, and to larger customers through ANZ Private Equity.
Green Acres was established in 1991 as New Zealand’s first home services franchise business, and has evolved into a
proprietary franchise system for distribution of home and commercial cleaning services. The Hire A Hubby franchise
company is New Zealand’s leading generalist home maintenance and improvement franchise network. Hire A Hubby has
recently launched a new service – Mobile Mums, which provides domestic services to the residential market.
Green Acres Director Logan Sears said the company would run the two franchise networks as separate businesses in
different market segments, but would gain increased efficiencies through purchasing and other costs. “We will have a
strong focus on increasing sales in both brands, and we will also be on the lookout for other opportunities to expand by
acquisition,” he said.
ENDS