Glentham Fund, run by the Capo di Tutti Capi and media star, Nicola Horlicks, has raised money a number of times on Seedrs. To date the company has done nothing and has raised little if any of the promised £50m investment fund.
In the last raise, which we wrote about here, Nicola Horlick stated that there was an investment of £250k from an external investor, that had already been agreed. This money has never materialised.
Geoff Lynn, Seedrs CEO, when questioned in October 2015 by The Evening Standard, stated that the money would be in place by the end of the year. He is quoted as saying that he was not worried because ''Nicola will be putting the money in herself if for any reason the external investor falls through''. http://www.standard.co.uk/business/anthony-hilton-nicola-horlicks-film-investment-vehicle-is-making-slowmotion-progress-a3084996.html
Not only has the Glentham Fund done nothing since its inception - except totally change its MO and spend its £393k equity cash, but the assurance of its CEO and founder is, more than a year later, looking a little flimsy. As is the forceful statement issued by Jeff Lynne in October 2015.
We wrote to Jeff but he was out, so passed us onto his PRing. She wrote back today -
'Thank you for your email Rob.
As nominee shareholder on behalf of the Seedrs investors we are comprehensively dealing with this matter and are keeping the investors up to date throughout this process.
We are in the middle of working through a solution so I don't feel it's appropriate to get into our private discussions at this stage.
Best wishes,
Lucy
Lucy Sharp
PR & Communications Director | Seedrs'
Thing is Lucy, we only got to hear about this because one of your investors contacted us yesterday saying that Horlicks had not paid the money; despite Seedrs chasing her all year for it. Seedrs had emailed shareholders to tell them this. Maybe that is what Lucy means by 'comprehensively dealing'? He was clearly not impressed, which is why he came to us.
Maybe Seedrs should be stumping up the cash as they were the ones who promoted the whole scheme in the first place? The only people suffering here are those who were stupid enough to believe what was in the Seedrs Glentham Fund pitch. As we are repeatedly told that these Seedrs people are sophisticated investors, it has to have been quite a comprehensive misdirection that persuaded them to part with their cash.
In the end the lack of the £250k matters not a jot, as the whole scheme has been a farce from the start. There is no fund and therefore there is no business.
I think it was $100m (the first of many funds I recall), or was it £100m?
ReplyDeletewww.seedrs.com/glentham-capital:
"Glentham Capital would receive a management fee of 2% per annum. If $100 million is raised, the annual revenue of the company would therefore be $2 million."
"...Glentham Capital would be able to get its business going for £150,000, which is a relatively small sum for a fund management company looking to raise a £100 million fund, with expected revenues of $2 million during its second year or operation."
This seems to confirm that the management knew that £150k was inadequate really...but that was the SEIS cap so hey, just get the cash in quick! So far it is approaching £650k, about £400k via Seedrs plus the mystery £250k, status unknown, and still nothing to show.
they increased it to $250m, after the failure to raise $100m, due to "demand". It was a major expansion, apparently. Maybe they should aim for $500m to expand further?
Deletehttp://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2014/07/43963-nicola-horlicks-glentham-capital-raises-equity-on-seedrs-for-major-expansion
Didn't William Goldman say in Hollywood nobody knows anything? I guess he was also referring to the efficacy of using Seed EIS to raise film finance.
ReplyDeleteThis could make a great financial crisis movie! Maybe "The Wolf of Bruton Place". Or "The Big Short of £50m"
ReplyDeleteanother change of tack - reinventing as a financing business out of florida ? http://castleplacement.net/portfolio/glentham/
ReplyDeletetime for FCA to a Christmas visit - i hear he likes a nice cup of horlicks