TPG closes in on Five Good Friends | Sojitz straps in for NQA | Top Shelf up for sale

Good evening,

Steve Duncan of TPG Growth is poised to join EQT Partners dealmakers on the register of technology-enabled home care business Five Good Friends, which has shot past $100 million in gross revenue.

Street Talk can reveal TPG is among the last bidders standing at Five Good Friends’ auction of a majority stake at a $100 million-plus valuation. The eight-year-old business’ early backers, including QIC and stockbroker Morgans, mandated Record Point to shop about 45 per cent in July, but have since expanded the up-for-grabs stake.

Sources said the American buyout giant is competing against core-plus investor Infrastructure Capital Group but has the higher bid and is expected to sign the deal before Christmas. Homegrown PE firm Five VCapital is said to have shown early interest in the business.

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

North Queensland Airports’s $3 billion auction is preparing for take-off, and there’s a surprising suitor lurking in the boarding queue.

Street Talk understands Japanese trading house Sojitz is looking to stitch up a bidder consortium for NQA, the holding company of the Cairns and Mackay airports.

The Australian sharemarket edged higher on Monday as a rally in US tech giants on Friday spilled onto the ASX.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.