European Flagship Strategy

We invest in middle market European special situations across equity and debt, with an aim to deliver outsized returns with downside protection

Our agile approach and creative investment solutions help fundamentally solid companies and their management teams to unlock value that may have been hidden by operational or financial issues, or broader dislocations.

Special situations require special solutions. We deliver enhanced outcomes by designing capital solutions to drive performance, including leading financial restructurings, providing innovatively structured fresh capital or establishing new platforms to focus on underserved or inefficient markets.

We invest in public and private markets across multiple industries, working with operating partners and management teams with proven track records within a carefully crafted corporate governance framework.

Led by co-founders Ian Burgess and Alfredo Mattera who each have more than 25 years’ experience in European special situations, the team has investment experience through numerous market cycles and has a demonstrated ability to source strategic opportunities and structure investments that maximise growth potential.

Selected Investments

Dislocation Opportunities

Distressed Aviation Strategy

Blue Peak Aviation

Container Shipping

Tsakos Containers

Renewable Energy

Spanish Renewables

Distressed Aviation Strategy

In response to the COVID pandemic-triggered distress in the aviation sector, Warwick launched a strategy to acquire aircraft assets at distressed prices either to part out, resell or lease to airline companies. Warwick partnered with an experienced management team and has successfully sold a number of assets within the portfolio.

Container Shipping

Tsakos Containers is a joint venture structure engaged in the acquisition, operation and chartering of container ships. The COVID pandemic-induced boom in container shipping created an opportunity to sell a number of vessels from the fleet.

Renewable Energy

Following a regulatory change in 2014, Warwick acquired 60 MWs of photovoltaic plants and 60 MWs of wind farms through a series of transactions which benefitted form regulated rates of return in Spain. Warwick successfully exited this investment in 2019.

Middle-Market Special Situations

Care Homes Operator

Ideal Carehomes

Technical Textile Manufacturer

Porcher Industries

Glass Fibre Manufacturer

Valmiera Stiklas Skiedra AS

Care homes operator

Warwick was the majority shareholder in a UK private-pay operator of 36 purpose-built, all-inclusive, 24-hour residential and dementia care homes. This investment required an operational turnaround with a particular focus on improving staffing efficiencies and increasing the proportion of private-pay residents. Under Warwick ownership, the estate grew from 17 to 36 homes and the group’s regulatory compliance improved significantly – to become one of the best rated operator in the UK, with over 90% of rates homes ranked “Outstanding” or “Good” by the UK Care Quality Commission. Warwick successfully exited this investment in 2023.

Technical textile manufacturer

In 2016, Warwick purchased Porcher, a global business specialising in technical textiles for the aerospace, automotive and sports industries, out of French administration and assembled a highly experienced team to implement a comprehensive operational restructuring plan. Porcher has a global presence with over 12 industrial sites worldwide.

Glass fibre manufacturer

In 2021, Warwick purchased Valmiera, a European glass fibre manufacturing business headquartered in Latvia, out of Latvian Protection Plan (pre-insolvency proceedings) and swiftly implemented a financial restructuring alongside an operational improvement and investment capex plan. Valmiera is one of the leading glass fibre manufacturers in Europe.

Undercapitalised Sectors

Challenger Bank

Allica Bank

Litigation Finance

Private Rental Sector

Eden Living

Challenger Bank

Allica Bank is a UK challenger bank focused on the underserved SME market. Allica offers a full banking service to SMEs including commercial mortgages, asset finance, invoice finance, payments and current accounts, all backed by leading edge technology. During its period of ownership, Warwick has invested significant capital and resource into Allica, overhauled its corporate governance framework and accelerated its growth plan by structuring additional outside investment.

Litigation Finance

Warwick is backing a high-profile team of experienced litigators based in New York to fund cases in tort, complex business disputes and patent / intellectual property. Although the litigation finance space has enjoyed an increase in capital over recent years, it was relatively nascent at the time of investment. The complex nature of the asset base (i.e. the funded cases) required a nuanced approach to diligence, which entailed a thorough review of the sector, and a sophisticated attitude towards assessing value and risk.

Private Rental Sector

Warwick has based Eden Living to launch a private rented sector (“PRS”) business focusing on the acquisition and subsequent letting of newly-built housing in South Wales and Southwest England, offering 2-4 bedroom single-family homes in suburban areas. Eden Living partnered with Edenstone Homes to acquire up to 200 single-family homes for which Edenstone will provide a “ready to move in” fit and finish. Although there are plenty of single occupancy flats available in the private rental sector, we identified that the single-family home demand was significantly underserved and aim to address this as part of our investment into Eden Living.

European Flagship Strategy

Warwick European Flagship Strategy Intro