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18
19
Summer
2015
… 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.
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.