NEWS RELEASE
12 August 2010
FINANCE VACUUM CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR PRIVATE CAPITAL
Cresco Capital advances to underpin Business Growth
The substantial withdrawal of bank finance seen over the course of the last 3 years has
created a financing vacuum in the UK corporate lending market, and constrained lending
practices continue to frustrate business leaders and entrepreneurs. The downturn, which
commenced in 2007 and which has had such an impact on the Financial Services industry,
has led to a fundamental erosion of trust and confidence, and it is clear that investors are
today seeking a differing quality of engagement, new structures and new products. This
new paradigm is creating significant investment opportunities for Private Capital according
to Cresco Capital (‘Cresco’).
Founded by seasoned equity and lending professionals Charles Owen and Krynauw Kruger,
newly launched Cresco seeks to identify investment opportunities for secured lending to
(primarily unlisted) UK companies in need of development capital. The firm’s focus is on
achieving a positive absolute return, delivering investments which provide security and yield
with opportunities for capital growth.
Commenting on the opportunity, Charles Owen said, “There is a rich stream of quality
businesses too small to tap the corporate bond market but with ongoing finance
requirements no longer effectively served by the banks. This financing vacuum has created
an exciting opportunity for Private Capital to structure debt based investments for UK
firms on a scale not previously feasible.”
The Company has formulated a number of approaches to the corporate lending market,
each designed to suit the differing risk preferences and profiles of the Private Capital
introduced. The investment opportunities presented will provide regular income from the
interest yield obtainable, returns which easily exceed those available from cash deposits,
security against the assets of the business and a fixed-term, providing certainty of capital
return dates.
“These are early days”, said Owen, “but we are identifying some excellent opportunities
and we are attracting strong interest from individuals, syndicates, wealth managers and
companies alike.”
Cresco anticipates a new investment fund will be the first of its initiatives to come to
market and expects to make a further announcement in the weeks ahead.
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FINANCE VACUUM CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR PRIVATE CAPITAL../2
Media enquiries should be directed to:
Gordon Puckey
Phoenix Financial PR
+ 44 (0) 207 947 2856
[email protected]
OR
Karin Tyche
Phoenix Financial PR
+ 44 (0) 207 947 2858
[email protected]
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. About Cresco Capital Limited
Cresco Capital Limited (‘Cresco’) was founded in 2009 by Charles Owen and Krynauw
Kruger and is a privately held investment management firm. Cresco acts primarily on
behalf of high net worth private investors and family offices and seeks to identify investment
opportunities to provide development capital to (primarily unlisted) UK companies
requiring finance to grow their businesses. The Company has a focus on the delivery of a
positive absolute return, providing investments which offer security and yield with
opportunities for capital growth.
Cresco is building out its business model over a defined growth path and reasonably
forecasts net lending in the region of £1bn over the next 5 years, (a small fraction of total
UK corporate lending activities).
www.crescocapital.co.uk
2. About the Founders
The Cresco investment team has extensive relevant experience in UK equity and lending.
Charles Owen, Director, has enjoyed a career in SME fundraising, and debt and equity
investing, spanning more than 15 years. He is highly experienced in managing smaller
companies and has extensive knowledge of the sector, managing the formation and growth
of a variety of smaller businesses in the early part of his career. These included companies
in the fields of commercial art, direct sales, market research, digital communications and
restaurants.
In 2003, employing his extensive experience, Owen formed Cresco Capital Partners, a firm
assisting entrepreneurs and small business owners to raise debt and equity finance from
institutions and business angels. This Company was the forerunner to the current company
but was put on hold in 2004 when he was asked to join finance house General Capital
Group.
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FINANCE VACUUM CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR PRIVATE CAPITAL../3
As a Director within the Company’s Venture Finance team, Owen helped to grow a loan
book from scratch to more than £25m and was involved in providing debt based
transactions to support company growth. Whilst at General Capital he was part of the
team that established and funded Seraphim Capital, the first of the Government’s
Enterprise Capital Funds, launched in 2006 with £30m under management and targeted on
‘equity-gap’ funding. Owen left the Company in 2008 and subsequently formed Cresco
Capital Limited. He remains an Advisory Board member of Seraphim Capital.
Krynauw Kruger, Director, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG (SA) in
2002, and has diverse sector experience, working as a Senior Auditor with a number of
high-profile clients including Old Mutual, Cadbury’s and Engelhard. He moved to Australia
in 2004 with KPMG, his clients including Hardy Wine Company and Australian Submarine
Corporation, later becoming Financial Manager with privately held civil engineering firm
Bardavcol.
In 2006 he moved to London, taking a position as Financial Controller within the Debt
Market Origination team of RBS - responsible for monitoring active debt positions in the
M&A market. With an interest in becoming more involved in the Venture Capital and
Private Equity space Kruger then joined boutique private equity house Pre-X Capital
Management as a Financial Analyst, leaving to form Cresco Capital Limited.
Kruger is a Non-Executive Director of Tower CCS Ltd, a specialist pharma ‘cold chain’
logistics company specialising in the transportation of temperature sensitive vaccines and
end-user medicines. He graduated with an Honours degree in Accounting from the Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth and is a Member of the South African
Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Issued by Cresco Capital Limited, a limited liability company registered in England and
Wales, No: 6935007. Registered office: 55 Old Broad Street, London EC2M 1RX. Trading
address: 55 Old Broad Street, London EC2M 1RX.