Good evening,

Anchorage Capital Partners’ turnaround play, Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics, is back in the news – this time for its voluntary administration and receivership.

The two sets of appointments played out at warp speed on Monday afternoon. The early read was that higher staffing and fuel costs, matched against supply chain (and hence, revenue) disruptions from the pandemic and flooding, had punctured the PE firm’s turnaround plans, less than three years after it bought the business off ASX-listed Eagers Automotive.

Scott’s is not exactly a household name but it is a critical cog in supply chains for several big supermarkets, including Coles, which is understood to have lent a hand in paying salaries and the like during the past week as Anchorage mulled its options.

There’s a short-term funding facility in place that would keep the trucks running while receivers KordaMentha run a sale.

The big question is how much Scott’s is worth now – and, of course, if it causes any pain to investors in Anchorage’s Fund III.

It’s the first time Anchorage has had to put a business in voluntary administration and its Fund III has already had a good exit in RailFirst Asset Management.

But with no updated financials available for Scott’s on Monday afternoon, it was hard to get a read on exactly how tough its situation was.

Elsewhere, Solly Lew was making the most of the creep provisions at his old flame Myer; hedge fund celebrity New Holland was in town for meetings; and CBA was selling down Adamantem Capital’s buyout debt for Retail Zoo.

Lastly, we ran a temperature check on the IPO market via Herbert Smith Freehills’ legal boffins.

Happy reading,

Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood
Street Talk Editors