We buy, build and keep exceptional Australian businesses.
A private holding company, investing its own permanent capital as a perpetual and engaged owner.
We follow an old-fashioned approach: perpetual and engaged owners of advantaged, durable businesses built by founders and operators who care deeply for their customers, their teams and their communities.
We buy these businesses to own forever. Your life’s work finds its permanent home.
Kindred sits at an intersection. Owners of high-quality businesses, and the advisors who represent them. Talented operators who want to be owners. And capital partners, for the occasions we can’t fund something entirely ourselves.
Businesses we own
Partners we invest alongside
The difference
We are not private equity, and we are not trying to be.
Private equity buys businesses in order to sell them. A fund has a life, a clock, and investors waiting on a return, which means every business it owns is already on its way somewhere else.
Kindred has none of that. We invest our own permanent capital from our own balance sheet. There is no fund, and no date by which your business — your life’s work — must be handed to somebody else.
Because the capital is ours, we can shape each transaction around what is best for each business and its people. We can be flexible — we want win-win arrangements that work for both sides.
In practice
What that means if you’re selling.
Permanent capital
Our own money. No obligation to ever sell.
Care
For your legacy, your business, your culture, your customers and your team.
You choose your role
A clean exit, an advisory seat, or keep leading with less of the work you dislike.
Flexible structure and terms
Full or partial sale. We prefer a majority. We don’t require one.
Investment criteria
What we look for
- $1–10 million in annual cash earnings, consistently, from recurring customers
- A simple, essential product or service – To us, boring is beautiful
- High and improving returns on equity
- Proven managers, engaged staff, low turnover
- Headquartered in Australia
Culture
Six values. Every decision is downstream of them.
Kindness
In life, the kindest person wins.
Trust
Fast, reliable handshakes trump lengthy contracts.
Win-Win
Be helpful and create value for all stakeholders.
Alignment
Ownership and accountability.
Compounding
Focused, continuous, incremental improvement.
Quality
Excellence is our standard.
Team
You will deal with a principal, not a process.
Chris Wheldon spent a few decades investing for and alongside clients at one of Australia’s leading public equity managers before founding Kindred to do the same thing in private markets. He is the fourth generation in a family of entrepreneurs.