Atraxis Capital
Atraxis Capital is a privately held investment company. We invest our family's capital across public and private markets.
We have no outside investors, no fund to raise and no timetable for putting money to work. This allows us to wait for investments that make sense to us and to own them for a long time.
We try to do a few things well. Public markets provide the base of the portfolio. In private markets, we look for established businesses, capable people, sensible prices and terms that leave room for error.
We invest directly and alongside sponsors and operators we know. We can accept illiquidity and a long holding period. We cannot accept a risk of permanent loss that we do not understand.
The business
We prefer established, niche businesses with a defensible place in their market and a record of making money.
The people
We invest with operators and sponsors whose judgement we respect, whose experience is relevant and whose own money is at risk.
The circumstances
Founder succession, corporate carve-outs and other situations in which patient capital and a practical owner can be useful.
The terms
We invest in equity, preferred capital and credit. The structure should reflect the risks rather than obscure them.
We are generally not interested in early-stage venture, pre-revenue technology or an investment case that depends mainly on a story about the future. We prefer businesses we can understand and risks we can survive.
What we look for before we invest.
A business we can understand
We should be able to explain how the business makes money, why customers return and what could cause lasting damage.
People we trust
Skill matters. So do candour, sound judgement and behaviour when things have not gone according to plan.
A price that makes sense
A good business can be a poor investment. The price and the terms must leave a reasonable return if events are merely ordinary.
A downside we can live with
We consider what can permanently impair the capital before we consider what may go right. Position size follows from that work.
Daniel McLaughlin
Managing Partner
Daniel oversees the deployment of long-term family capital across public and private markets and real assets. He has more than a decade of experience in private equity and investment banking, with a focus on capital allocation and governance. He serves on the boards of several private companies and non-profit organisations.
MBA, UCLA Anderson · BASc, University of British Columbia
John McLaughlin
Advisory Committee
John is an entrepreneur and financier who founded and built a national industrial maintenance firm. His experience spans operations, governance, real estate development and capital allocation. He has served on the boards of several private companies and remains actively engaged in philanthropic initiatives.
Herb Gill
Advisory Committee
Herb has more than three decades of senior leadership experience across finance and operations, including senior executive and governance roles in private and institutional settings. He brings a practical, execution-focused perspective to oversight and decision-making.
CPA