Aug 20, 2026 – 8.00pmStraight Bat, a private equity firm with some big name backers and hopes of building a family office-style long-term portfolio, appears to be in a world of pain, having written down one of its investments to zero and another seven performing well below targets advertised to prospective buyers.That’s the picture painted by a valuation report authored by Findex on behalf of Straight Bat in May, ahead of the end of the financial year. The accounting firm’s work found plenty of investments were undershooting their targets. Only four seem to be performing strongly.Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.Angira Bharadwaj is a co-editor of Street Talk. She covers IPOs, capital raises, mergers and acquisitions and other breaking news in Australia’s capital markets. Previously, she covered financial services, state, and federal politics. Send tips to @angirab.60 on encrypted messaging platform Signal.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?