Street Talk

Forced smiles: Crescent Capital, Genesis get their fangs out

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Jul 5, 2024 – 5.00am

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Time is ticking on an outcome of a colourful bunfight between private equiteers at Crescent Capital and their erstwhile colleagues who set up shop at Genesis Capital. At the centre of the stoush is Pacific Smiles, the ASX-listed dental group both buyout firms have eyed.

Street Talk first reported that the Michael Alscher-led Crescent was hanging around the $222 million market cap stock in January. After some back and forth, Crescent – through its National Dental Care business – struck a deal with Pacific Smiles to take the company private for $303 million. They had previously backed a $279 million Genesis bid.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.