Vocus founder Spenceley plots next move

James Spenceley teams up with fund manager Gary Tollo to launch MHOR Asset Management.

James Spenceley at his North Sydney office.

Vocus Communications founder James Spenceley has launched his next venture, teaming up with fund manager Gary Rollo to launch MHOR Asset Management, a fund for smaller companies listed or who are soon to list.

Mr Spenceley, who founded Vocus 10 years ago before it merged with Melbourne telco M2 earlier this year, said small cap companies were often overlooked by investors due to the work required.

“The market is inefficient for them as very few brokers cover stocks in early stages, and this creates huge opportunities,” Mr Spenceley said.

“We will work together to assess not just the financials but the management capabilities of businesses so we can build up a portfolio of high quality businesses.”

Mr Rollo said he discovered Vocus as a fund manager and James would present him Vocus’ results three or four times a year.

“What most impressed me about James as CEO at Vocus was his strong vision for where his business was headed, his drive and clarity around his organic business and the multitude of successful acquisitions he made,” Mr Rollo said.

“James has made more than a dozen acquisitions for a combined value of greater than $1bn. Those acquisitions delivered significant returns for Vocus’ shareholders.”

Mr Spenceley said the fact he’d built billion dollar businesses before meant he had high expectations for MHOR.

“Of course we have to walk before we can run but we are putting the infrastructure and process into the business now to be able to scale. Having built a billion-dollar business before, we don’t plan to be considered a boutique fund for long. If I had to give a target vision for what success will mean for MHOR, it would be to create a second billion-dollar business in my career,” he said, adding both he and Mr Rollo had invested a significant portion of their own wealth in the fund as testament to their commitment.

The fund is open to individuals, families, companies and trustees as well as advisers, and self-managed super funds with a minimum initial investment of $20,000.

In related news as reported by The Australianit emerged on Friday that Mr Spenceley sold 3.2 million of his 4.2 million shares Vocus for $26 million.

The news also follows a move by Mr Spenceley to invest earlier this year in South Australian wireless broadband firm Uniti, which will rival the NBN push to take on 100,000 Australian broadband customers by 2021.