Souter Investments, the private equity focussed family investment office of Sir Brian Souter and the Souter family, has appointed John Berthinussen and Calum Cusiter as co-Managing Directors. Having founded the family office with Sir Brian in 2006, and after 14 years as Managing Director, Andy Macfie is to become Chairman.
Sir Brian Souter commented: “When Andy and I launched Souter Investments in 2006 our vision was to create a professional but entrepreneurial family investment office, building a diversified investment portfolio that would generate healthy returns over the long-term, be resilient to economic downturns and fund charitable donations. Andy has been critical to us achieving these objectives. Going forward, under the leadership of John and Calum, our strategy and approach remains the same, and we continue to have significant capital available to invest in new opportunities.”
Andy said: “Calum and John have worked for me at Souter Investments for the last 12 years and thoroughly deserve their promotion. We have together generated excellent returns and have a strong portfolio of investments which has been resilient to the effects of Covid-19. After 35 years investing in private equity, I am delighted to be handing over the reins to Calum and John and to look forward to continuing my involvement with Souter Investments as Chairman.”
Calum Cusiter said: “John and I are both delighted to have been given the responsibility of leading the day to day operations of Souter Investments. Andy has obviously been instrumental in Souter Investments’ growth and development, leading us to our current position, focussed on investing in unlisted companies, as one of the most active and successful family offices in the UK. The fact that he will remain involved in the business and will give his input to key decisions is hugely valuable.”
John Berthinussen added: “Whilst the events of the last year have been unprecedented, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic severe, 2020 was extremely active for us, as we made several new investments and provided support to our investee companies. Alongside Maurice Shamash and Scott Mackenzie, plus our new recruits Rhea Ghosal and Stuart Dunlop, Calum and I look forward to continuing our strategy of investing through the cycle and partnering with market leading management teams, deploying our flexible and entrepreneurial model to help them grow and develop their businesses.”
About Souter Investments
Founded in 2006, Souter Investments is a leading UK family investment office with a primary focus on making private equity investments in unquoted companies, where it invests either as a lead investor or as a partner for other financial sponsors on a deal by deal basis. The office also makes selected allocations to quoted markets, real estate, and funds.
Souter has invested over £450m across approximately 60 unquoted companies in the last 14 years, and currently has significant investments in more than 25 unquoted businesses varying by size, region, and industry.
Recent investments include: Climate Care, a B Corporation providing businesses and governments with carbon offset services, sustainable development programmes, environmental and social impact measurement and project development; LIKEZERO, a leading provider of proven, next generation intelligent data capture technology for the financial services industry; and Sapphire Systems, one of the UK’s largest providers of enterprise software applications, services and support.
Souter Investments’ portfolio also includes: Stone Group, a leading UK based provider of IT equipment, managed services and solutions, including a secure IT asset disposal service accredited by the Environmental Agency which assists organisations in achieving their information security and sustainability goals; Broadway Partners, a leading provider of high-speed fibre and wireless broadband internet access to rural communities; DivideBuy, the fintech platform ranked first in the 2020 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50; and Pet Network International, the pet care retail group operating in South Eastern Europe benefiting from market leading positions in Croatia, Romania, Slovenia and Serbia and a new presence in Bulgaria.
For more information, please visit: www.souterinvestments.com.
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