TIDMSSIF
RNS Number : 2857P
SQN Secured Income Fund PLC
08 June 2020
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED
UNDER THE MARKET
ABUSE REGULATION (EU NO. 596/2014).
SQN Secured Income Fund plc
(LSE: SSIF) (the "Company" or "SSIF")
Appointment of Investment Manager
Following its announcement on 26 May 2020, the Board of SQN
Secured Income Fund plc, a specialist secured lending income
investment trust, is pleased to announce the formal appointment of
KKV Investment Management Ltd. ("KKV") as portfolio manager of the
Company and the appointment of Kvika Securities Ltd. ("KSL") as the
Company's AIFM.
Appointment of KKV
KKV is a newly formed investment management company, majority
owned by Kvika Securities Ltd, the UK operating subsidiary of Kvika
Banki hf. ("Kvika Banki"), a Nordic publicly traded commercial bank
focusing on asset management and investment services. The
investment team at KKV will be led by Dawn Kendall as CIO,
supported by Chris Greener and Chris Holder, both of whom are
experienced credit managers who have recently joined KKV. The
majority of the operational personnel of SQN UK have also joined
KKV, providing continuity to the Company's operations,
relationships with its borrowers and knowledge of its investment
portfolio.
KKV offers a strong proposal which combines the expertise and
considerable experience of individuals currently within the SQN
Group with a newly recruited team of financial services
professionals with significant expertise in the fields of credit
and risk. Together with the infrastructure and governance
associated with Kvika Banki and KSL, this proposition delivers the
continuity and enhanced fund management capacity expected by
Shareholders.
Below is a profile of each of the key members of the KKV
management team.
Ken Hillen, Executive Chairman of KKV
Ken Hillen, the former chairman of SSIF, has joined KKV as
Executive Chairman and will take a significant leadership role
within the organisation. Ken has held a number of senior banking
roles throughout his career: including senior corporate director at
RBS, managing director for Scotland and Northern Ireland at Anglo
Irish Bank and head of commercial and corporate banking for
Scotland at Bank of Ireland. Ken has a broad experience of
non-executive and consultancy roles within financial services and
other sectors. His current non-executive roles require regular
dialogue with a number of private equity houses and banks. He holds
positions in both listed and private companies. Ken has significant
experience of managing complex lending relationships and corporate
loans. At one point he had responsibility for a loan book of
c.GBP2.0 billion ranging across a number of sectors and
jurisdictions. He also has considerable restructuring and
insolvency experience. Ken will chair the Board and the management
committee of KKV with the CIO and the COO reporting to him.
Dawn Kendall, Chief Investment Officer and Director, KKV
Dawn has 34 years' experience in financial services, including
25 years' experience managing fixed income portfolios for financial
institutions, including her role as Partner and Portfolio Manager
at TwentyFour Asset Management, as CIO for IAM, a fund of hedge
funds, and Portfolio Manager for The Codelouf Trust, a family
office. Additionally, Dawn has held senior investment and
management positions at Newton, Axa (Architas) and Investec Wealth.
She began her career with SG Warburg where she worked as a risk
manager. Her areas of specialism are fixed income portfolio
management for private and public debt, structured finance, product
development and derivatives. Since 2017, in her capacity as
investment manager, she has led the successful turnaround of the
SME Loan Fund which became the SQN Secured Income Fund plc. Dawn
has a degree in Law and earned her MBA in 2004.
Gunnar Sigurdsson, Director, KKV and Managing Director of
KSL
Gunnar Sigurdsson has 25 years of experience in the financial
industry, ranging from commercial and investment banking to private
equity, in Europe and the United States. Gunnar has significant
transaction and structuring experience, having led many large and
complex acquisition and advisory projects as well as building and
managing the portfolio management arm of a major private equity
operation, based in London. Gunnar has been member of the boards of
directors of several companies, including major UK retailing and
wholesaling companies such as Iceland Foods and House of Fraser.
Gunnar spent 10 years in the USA in the 90s, where he obtained his
MBA degree from Pennsylvania State University and worked for
several years for Bank One (now JP Morgan). Gunnar has been based
in the UK for the better part of the last 16 years and is now
responsible for leading the UK operations of Kvika Banki.
Helgi Bergs, Director, KKV
Helgi Bergs has over 20 years of experience in the financial
industry, ranging from commercial and investment banking to private
equity and distressed debt. Helgi has significant transaction,
structuring and advisory experience, having led many large complex
structuring and advisory projects. Helgi has previously overseen
large principle investment portfolios (>EUR700m) and has a
proven track record of raising funds in the private equity space.
Helgi has previously been member of the boards of directors of
several companies including ADP and Phase Eight. Helgi joined the
Kvika team in London in 2017. Helgi is the Managing Director of
Kvika Advisory Ltd., which is a subsidiary of KSL.
Ragnar Dyer, Director, KKV
Ragnar Dyer joined the Kvika Group in 2010 and was appointed
Managing Director of Jupiter Capital Management in 2013. He was
then appointed Managing Director of Finance and Operations at Kvika
banki in 2019. Ragnar started his career in the financial sector in
2007. Before that he served as a fund manager and a partner of
Teton Investments and at Straumur Investment bank as a broker and
specialist in interest rates and derivatives. Ragnar has completed
the Stanford Executive Program from Stanford University, holds a
B.Sc. degree in Engineering Management from the University of
Reykjavík and is a certified securities broker in Iceland.
Ariel Vegoda, Director, KKV
Ariel is a qualified lawyer and an operational expert with over
a decade's experience of transaction negotiation, deal execution
and complex work out transactions. Alongside that, he is also a
highly skilled litigator having specialised in commercial
litigation, asset recovery and dispute resolution whilst at Mishcon
de Reya, prior to assuming the role of General Counsel of SQN UK in
2015 and the additional role of Chief Operating Officer of SQN UK
in 2019. In this role, Ariel has been heavily involved in assisting
with work out situations in the Company's portfolio. Ariel will
work with KKV as a consultant on an interim basis to ensure
continuity alongside the broader operational team from SQN UK.
Chris Greener, Investment Manager, KKV
Chris has been a credit professional for 22 years. He founded
White Circle in 2017 and prior to this he spent two years as a
Director of several developing businesses with a focus on SME and
consumer finance. He assisted these businesses in accessing debt
and equity capital as well as seeking out new lending and
investment opportunities. From 2008 to 2014, he managed over EUR8bn
of European asset backed credit at BlackRock and under his tenure,
the asset backed team provided strong returns in the flagship
European multi-strategy fixed income fund. Prior to joining
BlackRock, Chris was a Director responsible for covering asset
backed credit in Europe and Asia with Société Générale. Before that
he worked at RBS and UBS where he began his career in 1998. Chris
earned his BSc Mathematics from Imperial College, London.
Christian Holder, Investment Manager, KKV
Prior to founding White Circle in 2017, Christian worked at
Jupiter Asset Management as a senior credit analyst covering
securitised and corporate credit. He worked at BlackRock for over
11 years until 2015 with his last role as lead investment manager
in the European asset backed credit team. His expertise in private
equity backed deals created significant alpha across the platform.
Between 1996-2004 he worked at Fitch Ratings, most recently in the
asset backed credit team after working as an accountant. Within the
asset backed team, he worked in the consumer ABS and RMBS
monitoring team, before becoming lead credit analyst in the Whole
Business Securitisation team. The role involved analysis of large
property and operating asset portfolios in the leisure, care home
and utility sectors. Christian is a CIMA qualified accountant and
has a BA in Geography from Salford University.
Both Chris Greener and Christian Holder have assumed their
roles, reporting to the CIO, as of the transfer date.
KKV has also recruited a highly experienced executive with
significant operational, regulatory and risk management
capabilities who is expected to join KKV in Q3, 2020. Further
details of this appointment will be announced in due course.
Kvika Securities Ltd.
The Board has also appointed KSL, the parent company of KKV, as
the Company's AIFM. KSL is the UK operational subsidiary of Kvika
Banki, a Nordic commercial bank with a focus on asset management
and investment services. Kvika Banki is the second largest asset
manager in the domestic market with GBP2.6bn in assets under
management. Kvika Banki is headquartered in Iceland with its shares
(ticker: KVIKA) listed on the Nasdaq Iceland main market. KSL is
regulated and authorised by the FCA to manage alternative
investment funds and provide asset management and corporate finance
services. KSL, as AIFM, will be responsible to the Company for risk
management and portfolio management and will delegate the provision
of portfolio management services to KKV.
The fees associated with the ongoing appointment of KSL will be
met by KKV.
Key Terms of the New Investment Management Agreement
Management Fees
The Board and KKV have agreed that the management of SSIF would
transfer to KKV on the same commercial terms as are currently in
place. KKV will receive fees on the same basis as the fees payable
to SQN Capital, being 1.0% on the first GBP250 of Net Asset Value
("NAV"), 0.9% on over GBP250m of NAV.
If the Continuation Vote being held on 19 June 2020 does not
pass, KKV has undertaken to negotiate in good faith with the Board
appropriate amendments to the management agreement to reflect the
managed wind down or reconstruction proposals that are developed as
a consequence of the strategic review to align KKV's management
fees to incentivise the maximum return to Shareholders. The Company
will not incur additional investment and portfolio management fees
as a result of the transition to KKV.
Termination provisions
The new investment management agreement will be terminable by
either party serving 12 months' notice. There is no minimum initial
term.
For further information please contact:
KKV Investment Management Ltd tel: +44 20 7429
Catherine Halford Riera 2200
Nicola Bird
finnCap Ltd. tel: +44 20 7220
Corporate Finance: 0500
William Marle / Giles Rolls
Sales:
Mark Whitfeld
Kepler Partners LLP tel: +44 20 3384
Hugh van Cutsem 8790
Buchanan Communications tel: +44 20 7466
Charles Ryland/Henry Wilson 5000
This announcement contains information which, prior to its
disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of
Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR). The person
responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on
behalf of the Company is Kevin Robins of Elysium fund management
limited.
Cautionary statements
This announcement may contain and the Company may make verbal
statements containing "forward-looking statements" with respect to
certain of the Company's plans and its current goals and
expectations relating to its future financial condition,
performance, strategic initiatives, objectives and results.
Forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as "aim",
"anticipate", "target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "plan",
"goal", "believe", "seek", "may", "could", "outlook" or other words
of similar meaning. By their nature, all forward-looking statements
involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events
and circumstances which are beyond the control of the Company.
As a result, the actual future financial condition, performance
and results of the Company may differ materially from the plans,
goals and expectations set forth in any forward-looking statements.
Any forward-looking statements made in this announcement by or on
behalf of the Company speak only as of the date they are made. The
information contained in this announcement is subject to change
without notice and except as required by applicable law or
regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or
undertaking to publish any updates or revisions to any
forward-looking statements contained in this announcement to
reflect any changes in the Company's expectations with regard
thereto or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on
which any such statements are based.
Neither the content of the Company's website (or any other
website) nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks
on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated
into or forms part of this announcement.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
APPUWAARRVUNRAR
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 08, 2020 07:20 ET (11:20 GMT)
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