AFTER 24 YEARS GROWING Placard into Australia’s leading secure transaction card company, its founder was ambitious for the business to expand further. Placard required an outside investor that could take it to the next stage of growth, while respecting the organisation’s ethos and values, and enable the founder to transition away from the day-to-day operations to a more strategic role.
Chris Nunis, CEO of Placard, talks about his experience of working with the team at Pemba Capital Partners, and how the business has expanded since Pemba Capital Partners’ investment.
Placard is Australia’s leading secure transaction card company. It was established in 1987 to focus on the developing financial card sector. With backing from Pemba, Placard has grown to become the clear market leader across the financial, government, transport, health, and retail sectors. Placard is renowned for its technical expertise, service culture, product quality and for its value for money products and services. The company has grown steadily to establish its leadership position in the Australian and New Zealand transaction card markets.
Pemba first met with Placard’s founder in 2011 and completed its investment in the business in 2012. The owner chose Pemba over other potential purchasers because they offered proactive support in facilitating the owner’s move from running the day-to-day operations to a more strategic role at Board level. Pemba worked with the founder to find and appoint a new CEO, Chris Nunis, to lead the experienced management team and accelerate Placard to the next stage of its development. Chris, who had significant prior experience of working in lead executive positions within private equity-backed companies, joined the team in 2012.
Their Story is a series of interviews between Pemba Capital Partners and the people we partner. In these conversations we explore our working relationships and how, with Pemba Capital Partners’ support, the businesses we invest in are achieving their growth strategies.
