63Wednesday, October 23, 2019 WESTBUSINESS

A visiting international expertin philanthropy suggests morecharities should be mergingbut cautions against a “corpo-ratisation” of the sector.

“The sector generallydoesn’t do M&A (mergers andacquisitions) very well,” King-sley Aikins said yesterday, not-ing that there were 50 charitiesin his native Ireland fundingprojects in Belarus.

“We don’t need multiple or-ganisations challenging thesame issues,” he said. “If therewas a way in which they could

collaborate in a better sense,they would probably have amore effective impact.”

Calls for mergers in the Aus-tralian charities sector havegrown in recent years as anincreasing number of organi-sations compete for a reducingpool of donations, bequests andgovernment grants.

Some 65 per cent of the 57,500charities registered with theAustralian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission turnover $250,000 or less a year.Most operate in one State.

While amalgamations canreduce duplication and cut

administration costs, enablingmore funds to be directed toaddressing the charities’ objec-tives, Mr Aikins suggested tie-ups can’t always be assessedwith a corporate mindset.

Many charities, he said, werefounded in emotional circum-stances after a loved one’sdeath. There is also the riskthat mergers discourage thevolunteers who are so impor-tant to running organisations.

“You have to be careful of notinterfering too much and allowpeople to do their stuff,” MrAikins said. “So I’m alwaysnervous about being too

judgmental, but as an overallcomment, yes, there’s toomany (charities) and a bit ofM&A would be good.”

Based in Dublin, where heruns a consultancy, the Net-working Institute, he has beenholding talks and workshopswith charities and schools inPerth at the invitation of bro-ker and fund manager Euroz’scharitable foundation.

The foundation has given$1.6 million in the past 13 yearsto WA charities, includingYouth Focus, Autism West, theFathering Project, CysticFibrosis WA and ICEA.

Philanthropy guru sees the benefit of mergersSEAN SMITH

Charities’crowded

house

Euroz executivechairmanAndrewMcKenzie with KingsleyAikins.

The failed Latitude Financialand MPC Kinetic floats havejacked up the pressure onplanned listings, with fund man-agers sceptical that hoped-forvaluations will come to pass.

Bankers are said to be workingon initial public offers for atleast four private equity-ownedcompanies hoping to raise acombined $2 billion.

The first will be South-eastAsian online realtor Property-Guru, backed by TPG Capitaland KKR, which is seeking to sellup to $380 million of shares.

The float hopefuls includeOnsite Rental, which hires outindustrial equipment and isbacked by hedge funds, BainCapital’s Retail Zoo which ownsthe Boost Juice chain, and Pep-per Home Loans, a mortgagelender KKR acquired in 2017.

“These IPOs are trying to cashin on high-equity market valua-tions at the moment and sadlyinvestors are just not ready topay such multiples for new busi-nesses,” Jun Bei Liu, a portfoliomanager at Tribeca InvestmentPartners, said. She only plannedto take a look at Retail Zoo.

Australian companies raisedjust $416 million from IPOs inthe year to the end of September— the lowest amount for thesame period since 2012.

Float fails putpressure on IPO hopefulsPAULINA DURAN