Good evening,

TPG Capital is betting healthcare and consumer businesses in Australia, New Zealand and a handful of Asian economies are primed to deliver outsized returns for its limited partners. Now, the private equity giant has brought in a high-profile line-up to help it come good on a 3.2-times target return.

Street Talk can reveal Andy Penn, who ran the country’s largest telco, Telstra, for seven years until 2022, has signed up to lead the $1.5 billion TPG Emerging Companies Asia Fund’s efforts in new economy and cyber sectors. Preparations for the sector-specific fund, spearheaded by TPG’s regional boss Joel Thickins, were first reported by this column in December.

The firm has also roped in Susan Massasso, former chief marketing officer and non-executive director at The a2 Milk Company, to advise TECA on brand and consumer matters at its portfolio companies. And Rebecca Soulsby, a former Advent International deal maker, will return home from London where she has been sharpening her mid-market dealmaking prowess at bd-capital.

Sources said TPG Capital sees TECA as a significant opportunity for the firm. In fact, Jon Winkelried, the $US222 billion ($337 billion) firm’s chief executive, flew down just last month to help Thickins wine and dine local limited partners at Capella Sydney.

It would be safe to assume Winkelried liked what he saw, given he isn’t pinching pennies on helping Thickins build his own executive suite to support portfolio companies.

Penn and Massasso will also take leadership positions in their respective sectors, putting the model at par with what most buyout giants – The EQT Industrial Network is a good example – do in bigger markets overseas. Two more industry heavyweights, including a senior healthcare executive, are expected to round out Thickins’ c-suite, sources said.

The idea is to focus on profitable growth companies that are water-tight on unit economics and business fundamentals. But make no mistake, despite the small ticket size, TECA’s end goal will be beefing up these picks worth $150 million to $400 million to match TPG’s current portfolio winners.

That includes the contract research organisation business Novotech, now the biggest full-service CRO in Asia-Pacific and expected to be worth more than $4 billion when it does come up for sale.

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

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