In a transaction which valued the Riviera business in excess of $300 million, GIC Special Investments Pty Ltd (GIC SI) sold its stake in Riviera to a leading Australian independent private equity manager, Ironbridge Capital.

The deal was actually finalised on September 4, but not made public by Riviera until October 25.

Riviera has grown strongly since 2002 but has had a number of issues as it transformed itself from a family business to a global player in the luxury motor yacht market. Those issues have impacted profitability in the last two years, giving Ironbridge an opportunity to buy in to Riviera at a reasonable valuation giving continuing good growth prospects.

GIC SI was one of the original investors involved in the Riviera management buyout in October 2002 with Neil Broekhuizen, managing partner of Ironbridge Capital, having led the original management buyout on behalf of Gresham Private Equity and GIC SI. Broekhuizen has been on the board of Riviera since that date, latterly as an independent director. He has played an active role in assisting executive management form and execute a strategy to drive growth globally.

Riviera CEO Wes Moxey said “GIC SI has been a very loyal and supportive investment partner and has received a substantial return on its investment. GIC SI would retain an indirect interest in Riviera as it is also an investor in Ironbridge Capital Fund 1.”

All of the other original investors, including lead investor Gresham Private Equity and representatives of the management team will continue as ongoing shareholders in Riviera.

“Riviera has a strong market position internationally and has excellent domestic and international growth opportunities, both from its own retail distribution network in Australia and New Zealand and also through its exclusive dealership and distribution networks in the USA, Asia and Europe” said Mr Broekhuizen. “Ironbridge is very excited about the opportunity to invest in Riviera and the future outlook for the business and it is confident it can support and continue to build on a proven management team and work with Gresham Private Equity and the other shareholders to continue to grow what is already a successful private equity investment.”

Ironbridge Capital's Fund I is a leading independent Australian private equity manager, managing funds in excess of A$450 million on behalf of Australian and international institutional investors. Ironbridge Capital is focused on investments in medium to large sized buyouts and expansion capital transactions in Australia and New Zealand.

In May this year, Ironbridge completed the acquisition of Super A-Mart from the founder and owner John Van Lieshout, together with Ironbridge Fund investors GIC, Partners Group and Macquarie Funds Management and the management team of the company. Ironbridge led the $500m management buyout with an investment of $70m in the company.

Ironbridge Capital also completed the management buyout of Barbeques Galore Ltd in 2005 and co-led the A$871 million management buyout of Affinity Health (Affinity) from Mayne Group Hospitals in 2003.