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ABOUT US

Ayrshire is a boutique investment firm that targets control positions in real property (and related businesses) and certain industrial/service operating companies. Our goal is to build lasting and scalable relationships with our project partners, capital partners and portfolio companies. We rely on unique and comprehensive research, empirical creativity, discipline and a sense of urgency when capturing, financing and executing on our investments. Our investments are generally funded deal-by-deal with partner capital or with a small syndicate of strategic investors. We target deal sizes of $5-$50M for real property and $2-$20M for operating businesses. We approach these opportunities with a paradigm of value creation using our experience, values and expertise to achieve our goals and investment objectives.

CORE VALUES

VALUE PROPOSITION

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INVESTMENT FOCUS

Ayrshire invests in real property and operating businesses.

Real Property

Value-add

We look for opportunities where we can reasonably expect to significantly increase operating income in the near term. We look to do this through one or more of the following value triggers: (1) increasing revenue with higher occupancy and/or moving undervalued premises to market rents, (2) decrease expenses by operating the asset more efficiently and/or investing in better building components, and (3) realizing on excess development density with pre-leasing and/or creative partnerships.

Core Opportunities

We evaluate investments in low-risk, long-term cash flow streams with institutional partners.

All Property Types

Ayrshire makes data driven investment decisions in all asset types including office, retail, industrial, residential, hotel, seniors, agriculture and mixed-use. We also consider niche investment structures like public-private partnerships. In order to truly understand detailed market fundamentals, we focus principally on Western Canada.

Partnering with Tenants

Whether within new or existing assets, Ayrshire looks to implement creative alignment with its tenants. We have flexible partner capital that is not constrained by any conventional investment fund criteria. There is no time constraints for exit; no strict criteria for how or where our capital gets invested and each deal is capitalized independently. We have flexibility to invest in a tenant’s business if capital is required. We also invite tenants to invest alongside us in properties. Co-investment or even sale-leasebacks are given high priority in our portfolio. Our experience is that there is generally unlocked value (both in our property and tenant businesses) if we work together.

 

OPERATING BUSINESSES

Buy Small and Think Big

We invest in early stage companies that have a clear business plan to tangible growth. We are actively involved in our investments through a combination of capital, expertise and board involvement to assist with growth and value creation. We also invest in mature companies looking for growth or buyout capital.

Successful Management Teams

We look for people with a successful track record and a compelling strategy. We can provide board involvement, financial and management reporting tools and other support services to make better decisions faster. We want management focused on what they do best while we do the rest.

Sustainable Cash Flow

We favour companies that have cyclically stable cash flow with growth prospects that require modest capital investment.

Compelling Opportunities

We look to invest in companies with unique attributes, sustainable competitive advantages, innovative business models or consolidation potential.

SENIOR TEAM

Phil Swift

Phil Swift

Chairman

Ian Kennedy

President

Graham Gooch

VP

Adam Rosenfeld

CFO

HISTORY

Ayrshire (pronounced: “Air-Shire”) is a historic county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Phil Swift (Hopkirk and Wallace Clans) was born in Ayrshire and Ayrshire is also the founding homeland of the Kennedy clan. All members of our firm have some “special” connection to Scotland. As historians, we appreciate the rich history of Ayrshire and its people. This history captures many values, principles and character traits that we admire and that have influenced our growth as an organization. Here’s just a few that we’d like to share:

We know the value of a dollar. We’re careful about spending and expect value for money.

Forthright and honest. We’ll say what we mean, without malice.

Fiery and bold. Scots are brave and courageous.

Practical and down-to-earth. One side of our personality is very grounded and matter-of-fact. We don’t like pretenses or ‘fake-ness’.

 

Appreciate the arts. Scotland has produced more than its fair share of artists, poets, writers & musicians. Scots especially love music, dancing, story-telling and literature.

Hard-working. Historically this is a country founded and grown on hard work. First farmers and crofters, then heavy industrial plants and shipyards, today it’s finance and service industries.

Know how to have a good time. Celebrations, dancing, drinking, singing…. we’re expert at these.

We have captured some of these characteristics in our logo of a Shield (emblazoned with a Chevron and three Scottish Claymores). The shield and sword capture our philosophy that the best business practices are focused on growth while carefully managing risk. The chevron captures our belief in discipline – disciplined people, disciplined thought and disciplined action. The diamonds and fleur-de-lis on top of the shield tie to both our five value propositions and five key cultural elements. They are also symbolic of perfection, light and life.
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CONTACT

Ayrshire Logo

Ayrshire Group
2010, 250 – 5th St. S.W.
Calgary, AB T2P 0R4

P : 403-984-5277    F : 403-292-0803

[email protected]

CAREERS

If you are interested in working with us, please send a copy of your CV to [email protected]

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Phil Swift

Philip C. Swift

CHAIRMAN

Phil Swift was one of the founders of ARC Financial Corporation in 1989 and has held senior management positions in the company including President, CEO and Executive Chairman before assuming his current role of Founder and Director. ARC Financial Corporation is recognized as one of Canada’s leading energy private equity firms and has over $5.3 billion of capital under management. Phil has extensive equity investment, corporate advisory and direct investment management experience.

Mr. Swift’s private investment holding organization is the Ayrshire Group. A large focus of Ayrshire’s business has been investment in commercial real estate. Ayrshire has invested in over $395 million in real estate in Alberta since 1999.

Mr. Swift holds a Bachelor of Science (Math) degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of British Columbia. Mr. Swift has served on the board of directors of approximately 20 corporations. He is past president for Alberta, and past international director, of the North American Society for Corporate Planning. He is a past member of the advisory board of the University of British Columbia Business Faculty. He is a recipient of the Warren Bennis Award for Leadership Excellence as well as the Pinnacle Award for achievement in entrepreneurship. Phil has spoken at numerous energy and private equity conferences in Canada and internationally. He has co-authored a book published by McGraw Hill entitled “In Search of Leadership – How Great Leaders Answer the Question “Why Lead?”

Mr. Swift has also been active in the community and philanthropy and has served on a number of community organizations and foundation boards. He is a co-founder and Chairman of the Pacific Impact Investor Network (PIIN) at UBC Sauder School of Business. He is a Past-Chairman of the Canadian Institute of Natural and Integrative Medicine and has been increasingly involved in philanthropic projects overseas through the Swift Family Foundation.

Ian Kennedy

PRESIDENT

Mr. Kennedy joined Ayrshire in 2009 as President. During his tenure, his focus has been to create value in Ayrshire’s real estate portfolio and to reduce portfolio liabilities. As a result of these efforts, Ayrshire’s real estate projects have created $65+ million of value for investors and have repaid $110+ million of debt. With Ayrshire’s growth, Mr. Kennedy’s focus is business and organizational development in order to create and sustain exceptional returns for our portfolio.

Prior to joining Ayrshire, Mr. Kennedy was a founding team member in an organization that acquired and managed a large privately held real estate portfolio. With this organization Mr. Kennedy was involved with the acquisition and management of over $1.0 billion of commercial real estate and a portfolio of over 70 properties. Mr. Kennedy has Bachelor of Arts from Wilfred Laurier University and a Law Degree (LLB) from the University of Calgary.

Graham Gooch, MBA

VP, INVESTMENTS

Mr. Gooch joined Ayrshire in 2014 as VP Investments and oversees deal origination and underwriting.

Prior to joining Ayrshire, Mr. Gooch was Director of Portfolio Investments at GWL Realty Advisors where he contributed to underwriting due diligence and associated board documentation for $1.5 billion of transactions and developments. Together with senior management, this team also held national accountability for property management, asset management, leasing, valuation and reporting initiatives on a $6.0 billion portfolio of operating assets.

Mr. Gooch also worked at Forum Partners in London. Forum is a global real estate investment and asset management firm recognized for investing in and alongside public and private real estate companies. He is a Masters of Business Administration Alumni of London Business School and Hong Kong UST with undergraduate experience at the University of Alberta and the University of British Columbia.

Adam Rosenfeld, CPA, CMA

CFO

Mr. Rosenfeld has 17 years of experience in the finance, oil & gas and engineering industries. He joined Ayrshire in 2017 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Ayrshire, Mr. Rosenfeld was Chief Financial Officer of Beringer Energy Inc., a private equity backed junior oil & gas company. At Beringer he managed all financial operations, treasury, corporate planning, and corporate development.

Prior to joining Beringer, he spent eight years in investment banking, most recently as Director with RBC Capital Markets, where he provided advice and led execution on mergers and acquisitions and equity and debt financings. Prior to investment banking, Mr. Rosenfeld was a wireline logging engineer with Halliburton Energy Services.

He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree with a minor in Aerospace from McGill University and a Masters of Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business. He is a CMA charter holder.