Slow to Start, Glentham Capital May Have Help Around the Corner [u]

Bumpy Road DangerGlentham Capital, created by Nicola Horlick – a renowned investment manager, film producer and CEO of Money&Co., raised funding on Seedrs three times. Beginning in 2013, an offer was posted seeking £150,000 for a fund  that would provide finance for Hollywood films.

In 2014, “due to high demand” Glentham raised more money as the fund decided it was expanding into specialist funds operating in various asset classes.

Glentham then went on to raise £36,600 in a new follow-on funding round later that year.  In total, just under £400,000 was raised on Seedrs (according to the campaign pages). The monetization pitch for investors was that Glentham Capital will receive an annual management fee of 2% from Glentham Film. In addition to the annual management charge, Glentham Capital will also be entitled to a performance fee of 20% of profits. On the offer page, Glentham utilized hypothetical numbers of USD $100 million and $250 million of funding raised for the funds

But what has happened since?

Nicola HorlickA report in the Standard a year ago October diplomatically stated that Glentham Capital has been making “slow motion progress”;

“Glentham set out to be a fund management company with a film finance vehicle as its first big idea. But, according to its accounts, by the end of last December — six months after the second tranche of equity came in — it had burned through £300,000 of it, leaving just £60,000 in cash.”

Not very good news for early investors.

The 3rd funding round was ostensibly created because the company had secured a new investor who was interested in committing £250,000.  As of October 2015, the investment had not arrived.

Save Regents Park London UK RescueRecently a reader emailed Crowdfund Insider questioning the activity and results of Glentham Capital. We emailed Seedrs for an update and they shared a letter from Jeff Lynn, CEO of Seedrs;

Following on Tom Davies’s update two weeks ago, I wanted to provide you with a further update on the investment which Nicola has undertaken to make into the business [Glentham Capital].

We have reached an agreement-in-principle with Nicola, pursuant to which she will sell a specific asset of hers in order to raise the cash with which to make the investment. The asset is not highly liquid, so in order to avoid having to sell it at a distressed price, she has asked that we give her until 31 March to do so, and we have agreed. However, the commitment to make the investment will not be dependent on the successful sale of the asset, so she will be obligated to put the money in one way or the other by 31 March.

We are now documenting this agreement, and Tom or I will let you know once we have executed documentation.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Jeff Lynn
CEO and Co-Founder
Seedrs

It is encouraging that Seedrs has pursued this issue and Horlick appears to be ready to make good on her earlier commitment. We also understand additional information regarding Glentham Capital will be published shortly. While it is not clear yet as to how the 569 investors will make out some progress is better than none at all.

Investing in early stage companies comes with few guarantees regardless of who is at the helm. While we hope this one works out for all investors it is a cautioning reminder of the intrinsic risk involved.

Update: The Times has published an article on the Glentham Capital saga.  According to the report, Seedrs has threatened to sue Nicola Horlick on behalf of the individuals who invested in the fund. Many of these individuals participated in the offer largely based upon Horlick’s reputation as an accomplished financial manager. The Times quotes one investor who labeled the entire odyssey “an outrageous debacle”. Thomas Davies, Chief Investment Officer at Seedrs said they have been chasing Horlick during much of the year while telling investors “we are working very hard to ensure Nicola complies with her various obligations to Glentham Capital and to you, the shareholders.”


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