The Name

Even those Australians who can't tell a Banksia from a Begonia are surely familiar with the characteristic scent and appearance of a gum tree. 

Angophora Costata, commonly known as the Sydney Red Gum, is a large, wide-spreading tree of height between 15 and 25 metres. The trunk is often gnarled and crooked, with a pink or pale grey, sometimes rusty-stained bark. In Sydney it grows primarily on headlands, plateaus and other elevated areas. Delicate white flowers form in conspicuous clusters at the ends of the branches in late spring and early summer, providing a major source of food for many species including numerous invertebrates, flying foxes and birds. Hollow formations in the trunks are used by many species of vertebrate fauna for both breeding and roosting. Angophora Costata lives for over 150 years.

The name stems from the Greek angos; a jar or vessel, and phorus; to bear or carry, referring to the cup-shaped fruit. Costata; ribbed, refers to the capsules' prominent ribs.  

A. costata differs from other gum trees in that it is not a Eucalyptus, but rather a closely related genus. Unlike the majority of eucalypts, whose adult leaves are arranged in an alternate pattern along the stem, Angophora leaves are positioned opposite each other.

The name Angophora was chosen as the Angophora Costata tree is endemic to the foreshore of Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson) and the waters of Pittwater and Broken Bay. Guido and his wife, Michelle, regularly visit these waters and are always taken by the beauty of the shoreline. In particular, the tenacity and determination shown by the Angophora Costata trees clinging onto and making their lot on the rugged, steep rocks and shores of the harbour’s edges.

The qualities of this tenacious tree resonate with the launch of the new company on the shores of Sydney Harbour, practicing in the private equity space at a time when markets are hostile, volatile and unpredictable.

The Angophora logo attempts to visually communicate these common characteristics of the Angophora Costata tree and the new corporate entity: organic, adaptable, multi-facetted, tenacious, and abundantly successful.