Williams, who previously headed up both Skandia and Cofunds, forms part of a team of senior industry professionals to be involved in the venture.
At launch, the Old Burlington Investments Renewable Energy Fund will invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, while the Old Burlington Investments AIM Growth Fund will provide access to new share issues on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market.
For both funds OBI will partner with sector specialists – Bluefield Partners for solar expertise and Percipient Capital in the private equity/small and medium enterprises (SME) space.
The firm pointed to legislative changes brought in by Chancellor George Osborne, which boosted the amount of money investors can put into EIS in any year to £1m, as a reason to believe the EIS market will expand dramatically over the next few years.
“We believe alternatives are posed for very significant growth over the next three years, partly because of legislative stimulus and partly because investors simply are not getting the returns they need from traditional asset classes,” said Williams, who is managing partner at OBI.
Old Burlington Investments is backed by private equity firm LW² which is owned by Tim Levy, Neil Lewis, Tim West and Williams. The company was established in 2011 specifically to back innovative businesses in the alternatives investment market.
