22-Aug-2021:  In their previous Fact Sheet, ARC (Australian Rural Capital) described their business as "Investment and Management of Investment in Agribusiness and Agriculture".

In their current (new) Fact Sheet, ARC describe their business as "Investment and Management of Investment Funds".  No mention now of Agribusiness or Agriculture.

The business model has now changed since Harley Grosser took over as MD - they released a new company presentation last week (12-Aug-2021) titled "The New ARC" - see here.  They now wish to be called ARC, pronounced "Ark", not "A.R.C.", and certainly not Australian Rural Capital, although that is still the name they are trading under according to the ASX.  I imagine that a name change will occur shortly, but they'll keep the "ARC" ticker code.

In that presentation, Harley Grosser said "I'm excited to be leading ARC as Managing Director.  After 12 years on the investing side, this is our opportunity to leverage those existing skill sets and networks to build a listed company of substantial value.  With significant Board ownership at ARC, shareholders can be assured we will run the business with a complete focus on delivering shareholder returns.  Our priority now is on identifying, investing in and supporting the very best funds management talent in Australia, and providing them with what they need to succeed."

ARC has now transformed into what looks pretty close to the Pinacle Investment Management Group (PNI) business model, and first cab off the rank for ARC is a 40% investment in Merewether Capital Management, run by "Strawman's own" Luke ("Wini") Winchester who has produced an outstanding +64.3% per annum (average annual return) for the past 3 years and a bit (since June 2018) with a Strawman.com portfolio that currently has 10 positions, but has had another 5 companies in it as well at various times, so it's not by luck.  As well as the over 600% returns Luke achieved with both Laserbond (LBL) and Advance NanoTek (ANO), his positions in CPT Global (CGO) and XRF Scientific (XRF) have both returned +200%, plus +150% on 8common (8CO) so far and +100% on Aeeris (AER).  He has a happy knack of uncovering companies in the micro-cap end of the market that go on to multibag in a reasonably short amount of time (like 1 to 3 years).

Luke's latest appearance on Ausbiz's "The Call" on Friday (20-Aug-2021) shows that he certainly knows his stuff, and can keep pace with the likes of Claude Walker, who is a damn good small and micro-cap analyst himself.  Well worth a watch if you haven't already seen it.  They cover ADH, PNV, PKS, NEA, MSL, MFG, MAQ (which I hold), FDV, KNO, MCY & TWE.

Back to Harley Grosser now, who runs ARC:  Check this out: 

20-Aug-2021:  https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/where-harley-grosser-is-finding-value-in-micro-cap-stocks

That was published by Livewiremarkets.com on Friday as part of their "The Rules of Investing" podcast series.

And there's this, also published by Livewiremarkets.com on Friday:  https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/how-harley-grosser-turned-100k-into-800k-in-4-years

...which looks like the same stuff packaged differently.  However, the point is that Mr. Grosser has a decent track record, and is switched on, and ARC could become a great little funds management business in the same style as Pinnacle.  But the "R" in ARC no longer stands for "Rural".  I don't think it stands for anything now actually.

Largest Shareholders in ARC:

• 32.7%, Capital H Management Pty Ltd, Harley Grosser's company;
• 10.6%, Agrico Investments Pty Ltd
• 9.14%, James Jackson, their Board Chairman
• 6.7%, Paul Young, previous Board Chairman, up until mnid-2015

Their other two directors (other than Harley and James) both also own shares.  Wayne Massey owns 520,176 ARC shares and Darren Anderson holds 93,750 directly and another 344,905 indirectly, so 438,655 ARC shares.

Agrico Investments COULD be associated with Agrico Acquisition Corp. (RICO), registered in the Cayman Islands, but I have no evidence supporting that theory, or disproving it either.  Agrico Investments Pty Ltd is a private company registered in NSW, Australia.

ARC has been added to my watchlist.