Simon Barton Email & Phone Number

Markyate, Gb

VSA Capital Group PLC is an investment banking and institutional broking group providing Corporate Finance and broking services to companies across all sectors. In addition to my own particular interest and experience in the Technology, Media and Telecoms sectors, VSA has a strong focus on the Natural Resources sector (Energy, Alternative Energy, Mining, Oil & Gas, Agriculture, Timber, Renewables). We advise companies (both private and public) and raise money for them globally. Services include Corporate Finance advice, IPOs, equity and debt fundraisings, alternative financings, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and takeovers for companies on AIM, the UK Main Market, NEX, ASX and TSX.In London and through our office in Shanghai, VSA also specialises in advising Chinese and South East Asian businesses and investors and has undertaken a number of significant transactions for companies and investors in this region.

I am delighted to be appointed a Non-executive Director of the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The L&D is a superbly run Trust being, as was announced in 2017, the only Trust in the country that had hit all three of its key government targets. As well as providing wise counsel to the board and providing oversight on behalf of the governors of the Trust, I Chair the Audit and Risk Committe, participate in key board sub committees including our substantial redevelopment plans and our proposed merger with Bedford Hospital NHS trust and interface with staff, governors and the public.

So, in 2016 I had a completely unexpected but rather massive heart attack that, in normal circumstances, should have killed me and I have had a bit of a career break since then. My cardiologists have assured me that I am absolutely fine, perfectly fit and can go to the gym as much as I like and that I am not going to have another one… at all. So, it’s time to do something interesting with my time.Meanwhile, I have qualified as a Krav Maga instructor (it was Krav Maga that saved my life), and I have refurbished two properties.I have done some work for Barts hospital and for the Arrhythmia Alliance trying to raise awareness of the need for defibrillators and to help raise funds, and I am keen to do more to help them. I have also taken up gymnastics – because… what else would you do after a heart attack? I have occupied myself with a few other projects but it’s time to find something that my skillset is best suited for.

DiA is a buy-and-build venture in the broadcast media sector. As CFO I was responsible for, all the usual stuff plus, developing group strategy, corporate financial strategy and execution, evaluating acquisition targets, structuring deal options, pitching the deals to the target management teams and deal execution. Did it work – yes it did! Was it difficult – yes it was! Starting from a very small base we pulled together the finance to make successful acquisitions and restructure the businesses into a group consisting of equipment sales, rental and training across the broadcast and video sector.

As a consultant for Alinsky Partners, a large part of my time was spent on one particular client, effectively becoming a freelance CFO of a media and technology business. The first task was to get to the bottom of the accounting mess left behind by the previous incumbent while at the same time sorting out the resulting disastrous tax liability.I then advised upon and led a major restructuring exercise involving new funds from investors, creative - and complex - debt restructuring, more than one insolvency procedure and the renegotiation of supplier relationships.At the same time I put in place new financial systems and controls, managed the day-to-day finance team and implemented staff incentive schemes.In my next advisory role, I spent so much of my time working up ideas and strategies with the guys at DiA that I joined them full time.

Eden State was a buy & build venture borne out of an existing digital marketing consultancy and backed by funds from Ingenious Media Active Capital. My task was, with the CEO, to identify acquisition targets and structure workable deals for all interested parties: the group, our investors and the owner-managers of the target businesses. At the same time I had to build a finance infrastructure that would serve the multiple entities, multiple businesses and multiple sites.As we wished the target management teams to join us on the journey, the deals needed to provide the right incentives and share of the upside while creating value all round. Persuading the management teams of our own vision of the future for the enlarged business was as important as creating structures that worked financially and tax effectively.The strategy was successful and we were in the process of completing two deals with others in the pipeline when Ingenious decided to withdraw its funding as part of larger concerns about the economy at the time.

I was recruited by NextGen to add my considerable M&A experience to the Board and to the CEO’s ambitious growth and acquisition strategy for this publicly quoted biotech company. Within a week of my appointment however, a boardroom coup ousted the CEO and the COO left shortly thereafter. As the relationship between the Chairman and investor-appointed non-execs deteriorated, my role became primarily focussed on managing corporate governance issues and staff morale as much as it was on managing the day to day running of the finance team.

I joined Screen Technology as CFO as it was on the brink of flotation on AIM, bringing financial and City expertise to a privately backed company with no financial infrastructure.I built a strong finance team completely from scratch as the company moved quickly to managing its own financial structure, day-to-day accounting and investor relations.My responsibilities included operational and strategic management of the business, interfacing with City and other advisers, investor relations, fund raising, commercial relationship and partnership negotiations, IT strategy and legal, property and insurance issues.As technological issues delayed the original business plan I developed new financial strategies and, as primary interface with the City and other advisers, successfully raised new finance.

Conciera was a start-up company in the digital marketing communications / technology space.With the CEO and operations director I was responsible for everything, from day to day financial matters to corporate strategy, marketing, contract negotiations, property and investor relations.We successfully raised start-up capital from private investors and I led the acquisition of new premises and the successful application for substantial funds from regional development agencies and government grants.I also successfully led the structuring and contract negotiations on the acquisition of a direct marketing company to diversify the business.

Chicago, Il, Us

I moved to KPMG’s Corporate Finance arm in order to spend more time with smaller clients with more varied issues where I would enjoy getting more involved rather than turning the handle on some of the massive IPOs that were driving the large banks.As a Director, I led transactions, managing and motivating teams to deliver results in a high-pressure environment working closely with and delivering strategic, and sometimes difficult, advice to quoted and privately backed corporate clients.I was responsible for developing a number of successful innovative transactions and structures, some of which had never been seen before, to solve problems that seemed insurmountable.I worked closely with other departments and disciplines within KPMG including the audit and consulting arms to share knowledge and develop new business and I was responsible for new business wins including ICI, Orange, John Haggas, Border Television, NTL, Affinity Internet, and Large Scale Biology.I took on staff responsibilities for my industry sector and I was also asked to lead a senior-level project to improve presentation skills across the whole of the Corporate Finance division.

In the 1990s Warburgs was one of the leading investment banks and I gained an unparalleled range of experience advising at Chairman and CEO level on a wide variety of deals across a range of industry sectors. These included IPOs, acquisitions and disposals, mergers and demergers, fund raising, restructuring, stock exchange transactions and deals covered by the Takeover code.My work was extremely varied ranging:• from creating sophisticated computer models to developing corporate and financial strategy;• from overall project management to writing shareholder communications; and • from running negotiations to translating option theory into accessible terms for the personnel director.Major deals included advice to the £1.3 billion rights issue by Zeneca on its demerger and flotation, the refinancings of ASDA, BSkyB and The Independent newspaper and the sale of Lyons Tetley.

Gb

I qualified as a chartered accountant in the audit department with a significant emphasis on non-audit special project work. I achieved 7th place in the Order of Merit in my ICAEW final examinations.