For Purpose Investment Partners (“For Purpose”) has announced the acquisition of Catalyst Education and its subsidiaries (registered training organisations Selmar Institute of Education, Practical Outcomes and Royal College of Healthcare) from Anacacia Capital, the founders and current and former staff.
Catalyst Education is a leading private provider of vocational education and training (“VET”) with a focus on key social sector skills including early childhood education and care, aged care and disability care, and although predominantly Victorian-based, also has a growing presence in New South Wales and Queensland.
For Purpose has acquired Catalyst Education to drive further growth of the business, with the goal to become a nationwide market-leading provider of social sector skills training. This is For Purpose’s first acquisition in the Skills Education sector, with the sector being one of its five core areas of focus alongside Aged Care, Disability, Social & Affordable Housing and Mental Health. As a social impact investment firm, For Purpose considers the social impact delivered by its investments equally as important as the financial returns that the investment delivers.
For Purpose Director, Andrew Thorburn said “We are delighted to be investing in Catalyst Education. We think it’s a great business. It really helps people, it has a great reputation and is performing well. We look forward to working with Jo and her team on delivering quality training so that they can continue to have an impact in the community”.
Catalyst Education CEO, Jo Asquith commented “the most exciting thing for us is the alignment of values. What For Purpose are doing and the sectors that it is operating in, what we’re doing and how we’re trying to make an impact in the communities that we deliver our programs in is really well aligned, so I can see an incredibly bright future”.
Anacacia Capital Managing Director Jeremy Samuel added “It’s been great for the Anacacia team to work with Catalyst Education over the past few years helping them to expand and assist so many clients improve their skills. Congratulations to Jo and the Catalyst Education management and we wish them and Andrew and the For Purpose team all the very best for the future”.
For Purpose were advised by Gilbert + Tobin and PwC, while Anacacia were advised by Hamilton Locke and HLB.
We applaud the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance and the CFA Institute's jointly released definitions on 1 November 2023, particularly the clarity on impact investing. They say that impact investing “requires a ‘theory of change’ – that is, a credible explanation of the investor’s contributory and/or catalytic role, as distinct from the investee’s impact”.
As this Investment Magazine article suggests, it is not enough to just allocate capital to investees that have a net positive impact, and true impact investment should clearly be able to demonstrate its additionality.
At For Purpose Investment Partners, every investment we make requires a robust theory of change and clear demonstration of the additionality of our capital. With our FY23 Impact Report, we sought to set a benchmark for transparency among Australian impact investment managers, and are pleased to see our work referenced in this article.
Check out our FY23 Impact Report to find out more.
For Purpose Aged Care Australia Chair Toby Hall sat down with Vidit Agarwal on The High Flyers Podcast, to talk about his childhood and school experiences in the UK and South Africa that taught him to question everything, his early career in accounting and investment banking at the Salomon Brothers, his leadership training in New Zealand and transition to CEO and Board roles in Australia.
He discusses his leadership principles, how to have an impact in new sectors, the power of listening and storytelling and helping people thrive.
For Purpose Investment Partners (FPIP) is delighted to announce that it has committed $4.0m in debt financing for the first project in Beacon Hill, NSW, which will fund the construction of three specialist disability accommodation (SDA) houses for 8 NDIS participants, on land owned by the Anglican Church Growth Corporation (ACGC). This transaction has been undertaken in partnership with the Sustainable Development Group (SDG), a mission driven development and advisory organisation established to redevelop the excess land of faith-based organisations.
Construction of the houses has begun and is expected to be completed by early 2024, which will provide disability accommodation in an area of high need, with easy access to public transport, and with shopping precincts and healthcare facilities located close by.
For Purpose Investment Partners Executive Director Tim Shaw said “we are very excited to partner with SDG and the Anglican Church in funding this SDA development. Given high land values in Sydney’s northern beaches, very limited SDA dwellings have been constructed to meet the high demand in this area. We are very pleased to be able to overcome this significant barrier to entry by partnering with mission aligned groups like the landowner ACGC and SDG.“
SDG Chief Commercial Officer Jai Sharma commented “we are delighted that the FPIP team were able to move quickly to fund this development. Working with a values-aligned partner was key in overcoming the complexities of the transaction.”
ACGC CEO Ross Jones added “we think the Anglican Church’s Sydney Diocese has an important offering in the SDA sector where much of the supply of housing stock has occurred on the metropolitan urban fringes because of the high cost of land. We have land right across the Diocese, enabling us to provide SDA in areas relatively close to family support. We have more of these and other social infrastructure projects planned for integration on church land. We look forward to further partnerships with FPIP on those.”
Casa Capace is the SDA Provider, and will source the eight tenants for their state of the art designed homes. Fighting Chance are the supported independent living (SIL) provider for the development.
About Sustainable Development Group
Sustainable Development Group is a mission-driven not-for-profit real estate development and advisory organisation, established to redevelop the excess land of faith-based organisations.
SDG catalyse and bring together aligned consortiums of landowners, commercial investors/funders and long-term tenants to activate sites and drive outcomes that are sustainable for the long-term.
About Anglican Church Growth Corporation
Anglican Church Growth Corporation is an entity within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney whose purpose is to develop strategy and assist in the provision of resources for ministry initiatives involving the acquisition or development of property in greenfield and existing urban areas.
About For Purpose Investment Partners
For Purpose Investment Partners is a not-for-profit social impact investment manager, created to pursue an important mission; bringing private sector capital and capabilities into sizeable businesses and projects to create significant social impact.
For Purpose Investment Partners acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
We believe that diversity, equity and inclusion at For Purpose Investment Partners are critical in our efforts to create significant social impact. Diversity in the team allows us to better represent the diversity of thought and experiences of the communities that we are aiming to serve, promotes a healthy and thriving working environment, and delivers innovative and sustainable outcomes for our communities, our people, our investors and our partners.
