Concordia

Concordia

Merchant Taylors’ School

Summer

2015

Tariq

Attia

Tariq Attia

(2003-2008) is Head of

Private Clients at private equity firm,

IWCapital. He spent time at National

Australia Bank, before joining IW

Capital and becoming the youngest

ever equity partner at the firm. He now

advises high net worth clients on their

tax efficient investments

recently returned to MTS for the

first time since I left in 2008 to speak

at the Fifth Form Careers Convention;

it was a surreal experience. Driving up

Sandy Lodge Lane, I felt a strong sense

of nostalgia and was excited to see the

school again after so many years away.

There were many changes, most notably

to the newly renovated Great Hall (in

which golfer Ian Poulter would speak

that evening), and the new, ultra-modern

Design Centre. I was looking forward to

sharing my school and career experience

with the current crop of MTS students; it

was only eight years ago that I had sat in

the same seats as the Fifth Form, listening

to former students who had gone on

to great universities and fulfilling

careers. I must confess that at the time,

all I really cared about was getting the

best GCSE grades possible and what I

would do during the summer holidays.

I had absolutely no idea what I wanted

to do career-wise but what helped was

the support from teachers, ex-students

and my parents. They all had the same

message, clichéd though it may sound:

“Do what you love”, and this is what I

tried to communicate to the Fifth Form.

When I came to choose my A-Level

subjects, I chose what I genuinely

enjoyed rather than what I thought

universities would want to see me

study. It is simple logic – if you do

what you enjoy, you will feel less like

you are working and the likelihood is

you will be successful. Mr Ellams, my

Economics teacher and form teacher

during the Upper Sixth, stressed this

point in his classes. Economics was

always something I was fascinated by,

and I ended up studying it at university.

Throughout my time there I still didn’t

know quite what I wanted to do, but I

knew it would be most likely something

in the financial world.

I decided to secure a couple of

internships in order to find out a bit

more about the industry, and so I

worked for a month in Clydesdale

Bank’s Private Client office and for a

couple of months on National Australia

Bank’s trading floor shadowing the

commodity traders. I enjoyed both and

learnt a lot, but also realised that I’d

rather work with private clients and

in a smaller company, than in a large

firm on a trading floor. In my final

year, the job applications started and I

applied for graduate schemes with a few

smaller banks and boutique investment

management firms. I then had a chance

introduction to the CEO of IW Capital,

Luke Davis, and IW’s Chairman and

“city Superwoman” (a title which

she hates), Nicola Horlick. They told

me about IW Capital, and explained

their vision for the future, which was

something I wanted to be involved in,

and so I accepted their invitation to join.

… it was only eight years ago that I had sat

in the same seats as the Fifth Form, listening

to former students who had gone on to great

universities and fulfilling careers.

… a single

mistake could

prove costly,

and cost clients

huge sums of

money; precision

and detail is

of paramount

importance.

IW Capital is a small-cap private

equity house specialising in tax

efficient investments under the

Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).

Very briefly, the EIS is a government-

backed tax efficient investment scheme

encouraging individuals to invest into

small and medium sized UK businesses

by offering a number of tax breaks,

which are extremely attractive. Last

year, over £1bn was invested through

the scheme, more than doubling 2013’s

figures, and at IW, we identify, structure,

negotiate and lead our own investment

opportunities before presenting them to

our network of high net worth and ultra-

high net worth clients.

On joining in September 2011, my

first course of action was to obtain

my regulatory qualifications so that I

could deal with clients directly. This

involved completing the Investment

Advice Diploma, which I did over

the course of 6 months. It was

tough having to revise on evenings

and weekends, but securing this

qualification meant I was able to be

client facing, which is my favourite

part of the job. I love what I do, as I

work with exceptional clients, and with

a variety of businesses; at IW Capital,

we are sector agnostic (meaning

we will look at all industries), and

we have invested in everything

from a microbrewery pub operator,

to a biotech firm specialising in

oncology and some exciting “fintech”

businesses. Moreover, we have an

exceptionally hands-on approach

to these businesses and this is what

attracted me to the private equity

space from the outset – we help

these companies grow and have

an equity stake in each business,

so their success translates into our

success. Indeed, securing the sale of

a business and generating returns for

our shareholders is the ultimate aim

and we had a successful exit last year,

which brought about a great deal of

job satisfaction. We are always working

simultaneously on sourcing our next

investment opportunity whilst raising

funds for the current investment

opportunity; once we have finalised an

investment opportunity, we will source

the funds from our network of clients.

IW Capital’s niche – of combining

the interests of individual investors

to give them pooled access to

opportunities that have traditionally

been the domain of larger private

equity funds – has served us well,

especially in the past few years.

Furthermore, the government has

put certain restrictions on VCTs

(Venture Capital Trusts – another tax

efficient investment vehicle), and

capped pensions, whilst the Enterprise

Investment Scheme has only grown

and seems to be the last remaining tax

efficient investment scheme backed

by government and entrepreneurs.

In my opinion it is also a very stable

sector – whatever government comes

into power, I believe the EIS won’t be

at risk; the UK SME sector accounts

for over 50% of the UK’s GDP and 60%

of private sector jobs – two statistics

every government will want to shout

about, and the EIS helps them do this.

The academic grounding I received

at Merchant Taylors’ was excellent,

but I also believe the discipline and

interpersonal skills instilled by the likes

of my tutor Mr. Roseblade have served

me especially well in my career. I work

in an industry where a single mistake

could prove costly, and cost clients huge

sums of money; precision and detail

is of paramount importance. It is vital

that one adapts, manages one’s time

effectively and is organised. All of these

sound like simple traits, which you’d

expect most professional individuals to

have, but you would be surprised!

The time I spent at Merchant

Taylors’ was fantastic and I made life-

long friends – indeed as I write this, I

and ten other OMTs have just returned

from a skiing holiday. We have all

taken certain aspects and lessons

learnt from Merchant Taylors’ with

us in our lives, and I know we are all

proud of the school we went to.