Entrepreneurs will lift West Mids economic depression
The West Midlands needs innovative business moguls to recover from the effects of the economic downturn. That’s according to Matthew Caffrey from ISIS Equity Partners, who told Insider: “The only thing that will get the region out of economic decline is entrepreneurship – we have worked with businesses across a range of sectors, and all of them have been innovative entrepreneurs delivering new business models”.
Caffrey, who scooped Insider’s Young Dealmaker of the Year award last week, said that the government should steer clear of “imposing tax regulations which might demotivate entrepreneurs”.
Caffrey has worked on a number of deals at ISIS's Birmingham office. In April this year, he led the team that invested £3.75m in Birmingham medical technologies company Surgi C.
He said: “We have had a good year in terms of both exits and investments – with the exception of LDC, ISIS has probably been the most active private equity company this year.”
He added that there had been a change in attitude towards investment over the past year. “On the investment side, there is probably more confidence. Twelve months ago, the lack of visibility of earnings and lack of confidence in lenders meant that it was very difficult to get vendors to sell.”
Caffrey said that he expects the market “to remain the same” over the next year.
“The most important thing is to build a relationship with the client – that will always be the key to our business”, he said. “We do a lot of replacement capital deals; we work with entrepreneurs who might have a concentration issue. Investing this way allows us to work with a client on an ongoing basis. A deal is made on the understanding that the company will receive an investment, and they must be prepared to listen to and work with an institutional shareholder.”
Caffrey won the Young Dealmaker of the Year award this year, denying Barclays Private Equity’s Paul Harper his attempt at a hat-trick.
