This Aussie food business is valued at $1.5b as sport stars, super giant invest

Superannuation giant Aware Super and a syndicate of elite Australian athletes have backed Mexican food chain Guzman y Gomez in a share sale which values the company at $1.5 billion.

Guzman y Gomez founder Steven Marks said the investments were a testament of the group’s recent past performance and plans for the future. “We’re well positioned to build and bring even more [Guzman y Gomez eateries] to life here in Australia and globally,” he said.

The investors have not disclosed the value of the secondary share sale, but the investment was led by Aware Super, which has $150 billion worth of Australians’ retirement savings under management.

The deal values the Guzman y Gomez at a fully diluted market capitalisation of $1.5 billion.

Athletic Ventures, the investment syndicate founded by recently retired Greater Western Sydney Giants player Matt de Boer, also made its third consecutive investment in Guzman y Gomez as part of the sale.

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The group, which boasts 100 members including Test cricketer Mitchell Starc and Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, has been on the lookout for high-growth start-up businesses.

De Boer said the athlete group’s belief in the Guzman y Gomez business “grows stronger by the day”.

“Most importantly as an athlete community, we understand deeply what high-performance looks like, and continue to be blown away by the quality of the management team and their continued execution,” he said.