$10m investment in Beauty Chef

Sam McKay and Harvey Carter’s fledgling investment fund Point King Capital has done its first deal.

Investor Sam McKay and The Beauty Chef founder Carla Oates. Picture: Nikki Short

Sam McKay and Harvey Carter’s fledgling investment fund Point King Capital has made its first deal, putting $10m into Sydney health and wellness company The Beauty Chef.

Established by entrepreneur Carla Oates 10 years ago, The Beauty Chef develops and sells a range of wholefood and nutrition “inner beauty” products in Australia and around the world.

Mr McKay, a long-time retail executive for James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings and a key member of the billionaire’s inner circle, would not reveal the terms of the deal but said it was for a “significant minority stake”.

That suggests The Beauty Chef now has an enterprise value of $20m-$30m.

The deal is the first since Mr McKay and Mr Carter, a former head of mergers and acquisitions at Westpac, established Point King last year.

The duo have raised funds from wealthy individuals and families with the intention of buying stakes in retail or consumer brands with global footprints or growth ambitions.

Ms Oates said The Beauty Chef, which turns over about $10m, would use the funds to help accelerate the group’s global ambitions, particularly in Asia.

It already sells in the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Britain across retailers including Sephora, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Net-A-Porter, Selfridges and luxury beauty retailer Space NK.

“Together (with Point King Capital) we are in a strong position to expand our product range and take our brand further across the globe,” Ms Oates said.

“When I launched my first inner beauty product, GLOW, 10 years ago, there was no inner beauty category in the beauty space. At the time the idea of a probiotic, fermented powder for gut health and beauty was very left of field, so it’s exciting to see a significant shift in the industry.”

Mr McKay, a former chief executive of cosmetics company Jurlique, said the deal would be the first of several in the retail sector but noted Point King was not in a rush and would avoid undertaking any more than a handful of deals each year.

He told The Australian the firm would not necessarily invest in Australian companies.

“We will look around the world but it has to be in companies with global businesses or with global growth plans,” he said.

“Carla is an outstanding founder with a compelling global business. The Beauty Chef stood out as the pioneer in the category and is uniquely positioned for meaningful geographic, channel and product growth. We are passionate about the beauty and wellness industries and are confident our unique global operating expertise and networks offer partners the opportunity to accelerate the growth potential of their brand.”

Ms Oates’ own skin and health issues and that of her daughter’s prompted her to develop a gut-healing protocol.

This led to experimenting with lacto-fermenting foods in her Bondi kitchen and the creation of GLOW, her company’s first “inner-beauty” product, which she says created a new category of ingestible beauty products.

She said he had been in talks with potential investors for some time before choosing to take on Point King’s investment.

“There’s plenty of private equity companies out there (but) With Point King we have someone we think we have a connection with and who can really help us grow the business,” she said.