Funds: SRQ Capital Spins $50 Million Fund –

SARASOTA, Fla. – SRQ Capital Advisors LLC kicked off fund raising in early May for its $50 million-targeted Capital Markets Media Trust fund, said Art Seaborne, chief executive officer of SRQ Capital. Seaborne said he expects the fund to hold a first, and likely final, close over the summer, possibly by mid-August. He declined to provide a specific date for the close.

Seaborne said the fund would back early-stage companies in the Internet, telecommunications and media industries, and will not have a typical deal size. Seaborne envisions deals backed by the vehicle ranging anywhere from $1 million all the way up to $15 million in size. “I have no problems doing larger deals and bringing in others, if necessary,” he said.

The fund will invest anywhere in the U.S., although Seaborne said it will have a bias towards deals originating in Florida, California and Texas because he has nine partners located throughout those states. “We have an abundance of companies to look at,” he added.

The fund is targeting the nation’s top 100 media companies as limited partners, Seaborne said. SRQ Capital was founded in 1992 and has done consulting on strategic partnering for many media and Fortune 500 companies over the past eight years, he noted. “The idea is to focus on media companies. There are many great young companies out there that can turn into customers for these media companies, so it’s beneficial for them to be involved with these young companies – sit on their boards, work with them,” he said. “The sales story is to tell the media companies to use their excess assets and intellectual skills to help a young company get started and in return they get a valued customer for years and years.” Seaborne declined to identify any of the fund’s potential limited partners.

SRQ Capital is acting as the fund’s managing partner on behalf of the limited partners and has total responsibility over the fund, Seaborne said. SRQ has not yet invested any money into the fund and may not invest anything into the vehicle at all, he added. Seaborne said he is still deciding on the fund’s management fee and carried interest structure. Both should be around the industry standard, he added.

Seaborne said the vehicle currently has several deals in the pipeline, declining to identify any potential deal candidates. Seaborne anticipates that the fund could be completely invested within six months after its final close, at which time SRQ Capital would begin fund raising for its sophomore effort, he added. He declined to speculate on the possible size of the firm’s second fund.