The Australian Financial Review
Mar 21 2018
by Sarah Thompson Anthony Macdonald Joyce Moullakis
The steadily-building upswing in the mining industry has prompted hedge fund OCP Asia to more than double its investment in heavy earthmoving equipment rental firm Ackroyd Group ahead of a likely ASX listing.
OCP Asia pumped $60 million into Ackroyd in mid-2016, and has now funnelled an extra $75 million into the group as activity levels start to rise in the mining services sector amid an uptick in global growth which increases demand for most commodities.
Sources told Street Talk the company, which is run by former Financial Review Rich Lister Mark Ackroyd, has secured material contracts with OCP’s backing and put in place additional financing capacity as part of the current financing round in order to pursue new growth opportunities.
Certainly, OCP and the company’s deliberations around a sharemarket float, likely to get under way next year, would mean keeping a close eye on back-from-the-brink listed rival Emeco, which is doing better as miners spend more.
Emeco boss Ian Testrow told the company’s largest shareholder Black Diamond last month that Emeco could be in a much stronger position come the 2022 financial year with $482 million revenue and $216 million EBITDA, up from $348 million and $140 million this year.
