Seneca seeks to raise £10m fund and open in Midlands
IAN Currie, the founder of Seneca Partners, is planning to raise a £10m fund to help financially stressed companies unable to fund growth.
Having build a strong team in debt advisory and corporate finance in the North West and Yorkshire, Manchester-based Seneca will be launching into the West Midlands in the next month.
Mr Currie established Seneca following the Zeus Group demerger in 2010 which saw him buy a majority share in Bury based LibertySipp, and end his involvement in the Manchester-based business he co-founded.
He told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We have made good progress and we see a big market opportunity and in the north and the West Midlands too – it’s where our target market – SMEs are based.
“We’ve done eight deals already, using largely our own capital, but we’ll look to raise a £10m fund from high net worth individuals in September/October time.”
He said Seneca’s move into the West Midlands was an exciting opportunity – and the individual joining the team to lead its regional presence is an “established name” in the Birmingham business community.
“There is fundamentally a massive demand for capital in the economy and our aim through raising the fund is to step into the gap and help growing companies move forward in the continued absence of bank lending.”
Having assembled an experienced team on both sides of the Pennines – the newest recruit was former BDO corporate finance partner Gordon Lane – Seneca is looking to further add to its team in the North West with the addition of a research analyst.
In a deals market hampered by lack of available capital, Mr Currie said there was no shortage of interest in Seneca from individuals working for the major accountancy firms.
“We do get a lot of CVs sent to us from accountants working for big firms – clearly prospects in corporate finance are not what they were due to funding issues – so we can be selective.”
As well as the fund raising,investment, and corporate finance Seneca also offers wealth management advice.
