Partner Article

Capital player targets North East

A FAST-GROWING private equity house in London is focusing its future on new opportunities in the North East – a market which it says has been neglected by investors and banks in the capital.

As well as a £2m property portfolio and £800,000 investment made into young SMEs, Leoni Sceti Group’s team of experts have advised in corporate transactions totaling almost £7bn in value.

The London firm, which also has international investments in Costa Rica and Thailand, has now earmarked the North East as a key market to help fuel its future growth.

The company believes entrepreneurs and SMEs in the North East are starved of the funding and financial services they need to grow, because of the region’s geographical distance from London’s financial district.

Company founder Patrick Leoni Sceti is aiming to fill the void he believes exists by seeking technology and innovation-led investment opportunities in the region, and new clients for his advisory service.

The firm is targeting businesses turning over anything between £1m and £50m which may have no high-level financial expertise within their ranks and will offer them the chance to outsource financial directorial duties to Leoni Sceti.

Italian-born Mr Leoni Sceti said: “I set out to create my own group with the aim of bringing the knowledge that comes with a large financial institution [to SMEs]. In the North East there’s a lack of resources and professional help in terms of finance. The institutions in London reach out to the South and South East but unless a company [in the North] makes more than £50m they will not be on the radar screen of London institutions.

“Many of these companies get neglected because they are not well represented financially and most don’t have detailed financial projections.

“Historically the North East has a very rich seam of entrepreneurs and a very large number of SMEs but they have also lacked the knowledge to make the next step.

“The South and South East are within reach of the banks and investors but there’s no one out there in the North and North East and I think it’s a market with a lot of potential.

Mr Leoni Sceti was educated in Milan before spending five years working in banking and private equity transactions with Morgan Stanley in London.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .