The shield and sword
The shield and sword capture our philosophy that the best business practices are focused on growth while carefully managing risk.
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Get to Know Us
We are an Alberta based investment management firm that has a focused strategy of investing in real property and related venture capital. Our firm originated in the late 1990ās as a family office for our Executive Chairman Phil Swift who is a co-founder of ARC Financial – Canadaās largest energy focused private equity firm.
Our family office heritage combined with career experience, acting as fiduciaries to large institutions, pension funds and endowments; enables a disciplined and well-informed perspective for allocating capital. We endeavour to bring institutional quality diligence, research, governance, and reporting to our stakeholders.
Our firm has a strong appetite for creating positive impact in our communities and underwrites investment opportunities relative to tangible economic, social, and environmental criteria.
Our History
1999 - 2009
Passive LP
highly successful opportunistic growth strategy supporting local real estate managers
2009 - 2013
Active GP
successfully worked out a distressed portfolio of real assets
2013 - 2018
Value-add Strategy
leveraged workout experience and expertise to pursue value-add acquisitions
2017 - Current
Venture Investing
active positions in property or construction related venture companies
2019 - Current
Growing assets
under management with thematic, carefully researched acquisitions and developments
Our Heritage
Ayrshire 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 āspecialā 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. Hereās just a few that weād like to share:
We know the value of a dollar.
Weāre careful about spending and expect value for money.
Forthright and honest.
Weāll say what we mean, without malice.
Bold.
Scots are brave and courageous.
Practical and down-to-earth.
One side of our personality is very grounded and matter-of-fact. We donāt like pretenses or āfake-nessā.
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 itās finance and service industries.
Know how to have a good time.
Celebrations, dancing, drinking, singingā¦. weāre expert at these.
Our Logo
The diamonds and fleur-de-lis
The diamonds and fleur-de-lis on top of the shield tie to our five Cultural Elements and Operating Principles. They are also symbolic of perfection, light and life.
The chevron
The chevron captures our belief in discipline ā disciplined people, disciplined thought and disciplined action.
The shield and sword
The shield and sword capture our philosophy that the best business practices are focused on growth while carefully managing risk.
The diamonds and fleur-de-lis
The diamonds and fleur-de-lis on top of the shield tie to our five Cultural Elements and Operating Principles. They are also symbolic of perfection, light and life.
The chevron
The chevron captures our belief in discipline ā disciplined people, disciplined thought and disciplined action.