Good evening,

Three years ago, Five V Capital had to jump through hoops to win over the Department of Defence and the Australian government to get its hands on a stake in Penten. Now, the firm’s hoping for a circa $400 million payday, as it seeks to launch this year’s biggest deal in the red-hot cybersecurity sector.

Street Talk can reveal Five V has called in boutique corporate finance firm, Houlihan Lokey, to oversee a sale process for Penten, a provider of cyber and AI technologies for highly classified environments.

Sources said a deal could see Penten’s valuation breach $400 million, which would be a nice payday for Five V’s dealmakers who bought a 40 per cent stake at a $150 million valuation in 2021. Five V’s Justin England, a former Pemba dealmaker, has overseen the investment since last year when he replaced co-founder Adrian MacKenzie on Penten’s board.

Houlihan Lokey’s appointment shows Five V is hopeful of snagging a North American buyer, several of whom – from Accel-KKR to Thoma Bravo – have stepped up their tech dealmaking efforts on the Australian shores in the past year.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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Homegrown powerhouse Federation Asset Management had nabbed Peter Szabo’s interest in Homesafe Solutions, an equity release business he founded almost two decades ago and grew alongside ASX-listed Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.