In this episode of The Rate of Change, host Murdoch Gatti sits down with investment strategist Jason Coggins, former Joint Head of a major wealth management firm and consultant to leading private-market firms including Aura Group, Elliston Capital, and IBEX Investors. Jason also serves on the investment committees for Australian Philanthropic Services and Third Link Growth Fund, providing him with a uniquely broad view across public and private markets.

Murdoch and Jason explore the major macro forces shaping wealth creation in 2025 — from the rapid acceleration of AI and large language models, to evolving trends in global private credit, to the shifting dynamics of U.S.–China competition in technology, energy, and infrastructure investment.

Together, they examine questions such as:

• In what way is the Australian private credit market structurally different to the U.S., and how do differences in creditor rights, recovery processes and loan duration shape risk?
• How is AI reducing business-formation timelines, and what does that mean for early-stage investors, founders, and legacy SaaS businesses?
• Could some private equity and SaaS business models be more exposed to disruption than previously understood?
• Why might seed-stage technology investing offer the cleanest expression of AI-driven upside, compared with later-stage deals?
• Could the U.S. CapEx boom — driven by data centres, AI infrastructure and geopolitical competition — create the conditions for a market melt-up despite elevated valuations?
• What structural challenges does Australia face around productivity, government spending, energy reliability, and housing supply?
• And which regions — including Asia, India and select frontier markets — may play a larger role in driving global growth over the next decade?

This episode brings together forward-looking ideas and frameworks relevant to high-net-worth investors, private credit specialists, family offices, and anyone navigating one of the most dynamic investment landscapes in decades.

If you want to understand the trends driving the rate of change across markets, technology and global macro — please have a listen and enjoy!

You can reach me at mgatti@ywm.com.au and www.yorkwealth.com.au

In today’s ROCast, Murdoch is joined by Ben Harrison, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Altor Capital, which as of February 2024 has been acquired by Prime Financial Group.

Ben’s career began in engineering and project management on major infrastructure projects across Australia and Southeast Asia, before moving into finance with Wilsons — soon to be part of Canaccord — where he worked in equity research, ECM, and M&A. Nearly a decade ago, he co-founded Altor, building it into a specialist alternative asset manager with a focus on private credit and growth equity.

What I find most interesting about Altor is that they’re not just lending to businesses. They want to get in alongside them, with both debt and equity, and work with founders to succeed. Their loans are senior secured, giving investors downside protection, but Altor often takes an equity stake too — putting them on the same side of the table as management and giving their investors a share in the potential upside.

Their borrowers are typically operating companies with $20–100 million in revenue and $2–10 million in EBITDA, looking for capital to expand, make acquisitions, or invest in growth. Altor isn’t a property lender — they don’t fund land banking or development — but when a business owns property, or other hard assets, those assets are taken into account as part of the security package. In that sense, they use the full balance sheet to structure deals, but always through the lens of backing operating businesses.

As of the time of recording, Altor’s flagship Private Credit Fund had delivered just under 12% per annum net of fees over its seven-year track record, paying quarterly distributions with a 10% cash yield target. That consistency comes from disciplined structuring, active involvement, and the additional upside created by equity positions.

We also talk about Altor’s decision to join Prime Financial Group. The acquisition gave Altor the scale and infrastructure to accelerate growth, while opening up Prime’s sports and entertainment advisory business. Together, they’ve already completed several high-profile deals — most notably, the acquisition of the Tasmania Jack Jumpers NBL team — showing how sports franchises can be treated as platform assets with strong brands, loyal fans, and multiple streams of revenue.

So, before we get into the conversation, please remember this ROCast is made for entertainment purposes only. I encourage you to listen to the disclaimer at the end of this ROCast and to keep your feedback coming. You can reach me at mgatti@ywm.com.au.

With that being said, I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

In today’s ROCast, Murdoch Gatti is joined by Eric Chan, co-founder and Group MD of Aura Ventures & Aura Group. Eric shares what it takes to build a funds management business and their pursuit of backing Asia-Pacific’s next AI unicorn — through a disciplined process that blends private credit stability with high-conviction venture capital.

We break down Aura’s two flagship strategies:

• Aura Private Credit Income Fund — an evergreen wholesale fund that has delivered ~9% p.a. since 2017 by financing SME-focused non-bank lenders. With short-duration loans, first-loss protection, and monthly liquidity, it offers stable income and strong risk controls.
• Aura Venture Fund — a seed-stage vehicle conditionally registered as an ESVCLP (Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership), where investors commit capital via staged calls, gain tax benefits once fully registered, and back founders across Australia and Southeast Asia. A standout holding is Haast, an AI compliance platform already used by Telstra and Zurich. As Eric points out, the best measure of AI success is cost savings — and Haast has reduced compliance costs by ~60%, cut review times by 80%, and scaled rapidly from a $1.2m pre-seed in 2023 to a $6m raise in 2025 to drive international growth.

Eric also explains why venture capital must be run as a portfolio, how to balance write-offs against fund-returners, the cyclical nature of venture markets, and where AI is already creating measurable business value — and where Aura is looking to invest next.

So, before we get into the conversation, please remember this ROCast is made for entertainment purposes only. I encourage you to listen to the disclaimer at the end of this ROCast and to keep your feedback coming. You can reach me at mgatti@ywm.com.au.

With that being said, I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did, so sit back, relax, and enjoy.