£26 million business turnaround syndicate launched in UK

Business turnaround and investment specialist, Symphony Corporate, has launched the Symphony Equity Investment Syndicate (SEIS), to provide a fully integrated solution that simultaneously addresses business advisory and funding issues.

Aimed at the UK SME market, the £26 fund is believed to be unique in its focus on underperforming/turnaround SME’s primarily in Scotland and the North of England.

On behalf of the syndicate, Symphony Corporate will look for underperforming busineses in the range of £1m–5m overall deal size (both debt and equity). It is expected that approximately 12 such investments will be made over a three year period.

Symphony’s principals are Ian Mackay, Allan McLaughlin, Paul Slater and Rod Mathers. They are all chartered accountants with extensive corporate finance and industry expertise, most recently specialising in turnaround investments and related advisory work.

Symphony Corporate operates on the basis that underperforming businesses typically require two fundamentals: management and money. SEIS provides the funding required to stabilise, refinance and then grow the business. It does this with the support of additional senior management who work with existing management teams, providing in depth involvement rather than a monitoring role.

Ian Mackay of Symphony said:
“While this isn’t a conventional approach to rescuing troubled businesses, it is highly effective. For managers faced with restructuring or refinancing a business, there are real advantages in getting one-stop early intervention. With SEIS, Symphony offers expert business turnaround knowledge and ready funds to quickly implement the necessary solutions.”


Symphony Corporate selected HM Corporate Solutions, the corporate finance advisory business of lawyers Harper Macleod, to lead the syndicate’s fund raising needs. In addition to several Scottish family private equity firms, the directors of Symphony Corporate have invested significant equity, as have several high net worth business executives.

ENDS
September 2007

For further information on the SEIS syndicate or Symphony Corporate, please contact Ian Mackay or Allan McLaughlin on 00 11 44 141 352 9966