Calcorp Capital — Searching for Good Enough

01 The Search

Not a resume. A record of what happened each time I tested advice against practice — including the two ventures that didn't survive, and what they taught me about what actually breaks a deal.

1977

Started advising

First lessons in corporate finance — the beginning of a 48-year search for a better way to do M&A.

1994

Founded Calcorp Capital

Left Adelaide Bank to build an advisory practice on my own terms, in Adelaide.

1998–2005

National Partner, KPMG Corporate Finance

Grew the practice 900%. Founded the KPMG Global Wine Industry Group. By most measures, arrived.

Practice

2005

Left the partnership

Walked away from a National Partnership to operate Cosentino Signature Wines PLC myself — listed it on London's AIM and raised £12.5M institutional capital for 48% of the business. I needed to sit in the chair I'd been advising from the outside.

Operator

2015–2026

Built Numedico Technologies

Grew a medical device company to over $70M in revenue while continuing to advise through Calcorp — then lived through what happens when capital structure and operational reality stop matching. Most advisors only ever hear about this. I've stood inside it.

Operator

Now

Still searching

Back to advising full-time at Calcorp — with two operating ventures' worth of scar tissue behind every recommendation I make.

Practice

02 What the search taught me

Not abstractions. Positions I hold because I've watched the alternative fail — from both sides of the table.

On value

Institutional knowledge is the asset

The people who know why the business works are usually worth more than the spreadsheet says. Deals that ignore this look fine on signing day and fail in year two.

On structure

Capital structure has to match operating reality

I've raised institutional capital as an operator. I've also watched a structure stop matching the business it was built for. I price and structure deals to survive contact with reality.

On engagement

I originate, I don't wait for a mandate

Good outcomes are built, not sourced. I'd rather bring a business owner a real option than wait to be briefed on one.

03 Who this is for

This works if

You're weighing a sale, raise, or succession and want someone who has sat on the operating side of that decision.
You care what happens to your people and your customers after the deal closes, not just at signing.
You want a second opinion from someone who has been through a deal that didn't survive.
You'd rather be told the truth early than be managed toward a fee.

This isn't for

Transaction volume shops looking for the fastest possible close.
Anyone who treats institutional knowledge as a "soft factor."
Deals where the brief is "maximise price, ask no other questions."