We'll_live_and_die
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SISU Contact details if you would like to write to them direct. maybe someone could start a petition.
Company Overview
Sisu Capital Limited is a privately owned hedge fund sponsor. The firm invests in the pubic equity, fixed income, and alternative investment markets of Europe with a focus on United Kingdom. It makes event driven investments in high yield and distressed debt securities for the restructuring of industrial companies. Sisu Capital was founded in 1997 and is based in London, United Kingdom.
11-12 Hanover Street
London, W1S 1YQ
United Kingdom
Founded in 1997
Phone: 44 20 7290 5450
Fax: 44 20 7493 0471
I found this. It's old but interesting background of SISU.
Queen of debt won't take no for an answer
Joy Seppala is one of a new breed of hedge fund chiefs who refuse to play by traditional rules. By Richard Fletcher and Dan Drillsma-Milgrom
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}JOY SEPPALA, chief executive of Sisu Capital, does not look like “one of London’s most ballsy traders”. A smartly dressed 44-year-old Finnish-American blonde, she likes to describe herself as an investor. But, according to rivals, appearances are deceptive. Seppala is a force to be reckoned with. “She has balls of steel,” said one.
Seppala has a reputation for playing hardball in the distressed-debt market — demanding that companies and administrators “stand and deliver” what she believes her investors are due.
From an anonymous building in London’s Mayfair, Seppala and her 15 staff run an $800m (£460m) hedge fund that specialises in investing in troubled companies. It looks for firms whose debts are undervalued and trading at a large discount to their face value.
Sisu is one of a number of hedge funds that, having taken over company debts, are refusing to play by the traditional rules. They are making waves — resorting to the courts and even threatening to bid for companies — to get what they believe is rightly theirs.
Administrators to bankrupt companies accuse the hedge funds of blackmail — holding out and refusing to agree to a deal until they secure a larger payout for themselves — at the expense of other creditors. With the rows often ending in costly long-running legal battles, many administrators, they admit, quietly concede to the demands. “It is like dealing with sharks,” said one.
In Finnish, sisu means “inner fortitude, inner strength, and guts”. In recent months Seppala, whose father came from Finland, has probably needed all the sisu she can muster.
A bitter and long-running battle with KPMG, the administrator to the power company TXU Europe, ended in a rare courtroom defeat for Sisu.
TXU Europe was one of the biggest-ever insolvencies in Britain — with a large number of creditors and different tranches of debt.
Seppala believed that the deal proposed by KPMG was unfair. The tranche of bonds Sisu held entitled her investors to a better deal, she argued. Seppala also believed that the administrator faced a conflict of interest.
But a High Court judge sided with KPMG. For Sisu, which prides itself on its due diligence and its thorough research, it was a big blow. Worse still, the judge criticised Seppala’s evidence.
“I fear Ms Seppala has a distorted recollection of some events ... she is also prone to exaggerate — the respondents would characterise it as lying but I give her the benefit of the doubt on that,” said Mr Justice Warren.
“She had many other business matters on her mind and when it came to producing her witness statement and giving her oral evidence, her recollection was not, I think, as accurate as she would like to make out.
“She is, I am quite sure, an astute businesswoman. I totally reject her description of herself as naive,” he added.
Seppala has rejected the judge’s criticism. “I’m not one for publicity and I do not care what people — beyond my investors and my family — think of me,” she said.
And she insisted she had no regrets about bringing the case. “I do think that it is critical that we defend our legal rights. We cannot be in a position where we compromise on the legal position we have,” she said.
It was a point of principle, said Seppala, who bought the case despite the fact that the deal proposed by KPMG would have resulted in a £30m profit for her fund and that even if she had triumphed it would have increased the payout by just a few more million pounds.
“We are not focused on how much we make. We are focused on the value of the investment and our legal position,” said Seppala. “The issue was — and continues to be — critical. There was a shift in value from one creditor group to the other. The issues could have been resolved. We would have preferred to arbitrate.”
But critics argue that the case was actually about sending a message to the market: “Don’t mess with me.”
Whoever is right, Seppala and her investors have been left with an estimated legal bill of at least £6m.
Seppala is not used to losing — though she said she never sees it in those terms.
Last year Sisu secured a better deal for its investors after a year-long dispute with Investcorp, owner of the Welcome Break chain of motorway service stations.
Investcorp wanted to refinance the troubled business — paying debt holders 30p for every 100p of debt that they were owed.
“They were trying to buy the debt at a discount and refinance at the expense of debt holders,” said Seppala.
Sisu dug in, at one stage even appointing Lazard to advise on a bid for the firm. The offers went up to 37p, then 55p before Investcorp caved in and agreed to pay debt holders all they were owed.
But despite the high-profile battles, Seppala insisted that she does not go looking for a fight.
“I am concerned about protecting my investors’ investments and our legal and legitimate rights. I would prefer not to be active. But we cannot afford to be inactive. We cannot afford not to defend our positions when we are treated outrageously,” she said.
Trading in distressed debt is, of course, not new. In 1992 billionaire Kenneth Dart bought Brazilian debt for between 25% and 40% of its face value — eventually acquiring 4% of Brazil’s total foreign debt.
Dart — the billionaire heir to a styrofoam-cup business — struck a repayment deal, then refused to budge when American banks and the Brazilian government pressed him in 1993 to take a lesser gain as part of a $35 billion restructuring. He found himself vilified in Brazil, but refused to budge — eventually banking a $605m profit.
In America, William Huff has built a fortune of $750m by targeting distressed companies and buying up their debt. In Britain he took a 12.8% stake in NTL and he also blocked the restructuring of Telewest for more than a year after not getting his way. “I told them ... I was taking off the gloves and putting on the brass knuckles,” he told Forbes magazine.
As hedge funds become more active in the debt market, administrators will increasingly find themselves dealing with this new breed of investor.
Company Overview
Sisu Capital Limited is a privately owned hedge fund sponsor. The firm invests in the pubic equity, fixed income, and alternative investment markets of Europe with a focus on United Kingdom. It makes event driven investments in high yield and distressed debt securities for the restructuring of industrial companies. Sisu Capital was founded in 1997 and is based in London, United Kingdom.
11-12 Hanover Street
London, W1S 1YQ
United Kingdom
Founded in 1997
Phone: 44 20 7290 5450
Fax: 44 20 7493 0471
I found this. It's old but interesting background of SISU.
Queen of debt won't take no for an answer
Joy Seppala is one of a new breed of hedge fund chiefs who refuse to play by traditional rules. By Richard Fletcher and Dan Drillsma-Milgrom
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}JOY SEPPALA, chief executive of Sisu Capital, does not look like “one of London’s most ballsy traders”. A smartly dressed 44-year-old Finnish-American blonde, she likes to describe herself as an investor. But, according to rivals, appearances are deceptive. Seppala is a force to be reckoned with. “She has balls of steel,” said one.
Seppala has a reputation for playing hardball in the distressed-debt market — demanding that companies and administrators “stand and deliver” what she believes her investors are due.
From an anonymous building in London’s Mayfair, Seppala and her 15 staff run an $800m (£460m) hedge fund that specialises in investing in troubled companies. It looks for firms whose debts are undervalued and trading at a large discount to their face value.
Sisu is one of a number of hedge funds that, having taken over company debts, are refusing to play by the traditional rules. They are making waves — resorting to the courts and even threatening to bid for companies — to get what they believe is rightly theirs.
Administrators to bankrupt companies accuse the hedge funds of blackmail — holding out and refusing to agree to a deal until they secure a larger payout for themselves — at the expense of other creditors. With the rows often ending in costly long-running legal battles, many administrators, they admit, quietly concede to the demands. “It is like dealing with sharks,” said one.
In Finnish, sisu means “inner fortitude, inner strength, and guts”. In recent months Seppala, whose father came from Finland, has probably needed all the sisu she can muster.
A bitter and long-running battle with KPMG, the administrator to the power company TXU Europe, ended in a rare courtroom defeat for Sisu.
TXU Europe was one of the biggest-ever insolvencies in Britain — with a large number of creditors and different tranches of debt.
Seppala believed that the deal proposed by KPMG was unfair. The tranche of bonds Sisu held entitled her investors to a better deal, she argued. Seppala also believed that the administrator faced a conflict of interest.
But a High Court judge sided with KPMG. For Sisu, which prides itself on its due diligence and its thorough research, it was a big blow. Worse still, the judge criticised Seppala’s evidence.
“I fear Ms Seppala has a distorted recollection of some events ... she is also prone to exaggerate — the respondents would characterise it as lying but I give her the benefit of the doubt on that,” said Mr Justice Warren.
“She had many other business matters on her mind and when it came to producing her witness statement and giving her oral evidence, her recollection was not, I think, as accurate as she would like to make out.
“She is, I am quite sure, an astute businesswoman. I totally reject her description of herself as naive,” he added.
Seppala has rejected the judge’s criticism. “I’m not one for publicity and I do not care what people — beyond my investors and my family — think of me,” she said.
And she insisted she had no regrets about bringing the case. “I do think that it is critical that we defend our legal rights. We cannot be in a position where we compromise on the legal position we have,” she said.
It was a point of principle, said Seppala, who bought the case despite the fact that the deal proposed by KPMG would have resulted in a £30m profit for her fund and that even if she had triumphed it would have increased the payout by just a few more million pounds.
“We are not focused on how much we make. We are focused on the value of the investment and our legal position,” said Seppala. “The issue was — and continues to be — critical. There was a shift in value from one creditor group to the other. The issues could have been resolved. We would have preferred to arbitrate.”
But critics argue that the case was actually about sending a message to the market: “Don’t mess with me.”
Whoever is right, Seppala and her investors have been left with an estimated legal bill of at least £6m.
Seppala is not used to losing — though she said she never sees it in those terms.
Last year Sisu secured a better deal for its investors after a year-long dispute with Investcorp, owner of the Welcome Break chain of motorway service stations.
Investcorp wanted to refinance the troubled business — paying debt holders 30p for every 100p of debt that they were owed.
“They were trying to buy the debt at a discount and refinance at the expense of debt holders,” said Seppala.
Sisu dug in, at one stage even appointing Lazard to advise on a bid for the firm. The offers went up to 37p, then 55p before Investcorp caved in and agreed to pay debt holders all they were owed.
But despite the high-profile battles, Seppala insisted that she does not go looking for a fight.
“I am concerned about protecting my investors’ investments and our legal and legitimate rights. I would prefer not to be active. But we cannot afford to be inactive. We cannot afford not to defend our positions when we are treated outrageously,” she said.
Trading in distressed debt is, of course, not new. In 1992 billionaire Kenneth Dart bought Brazilian debt for between 25% and 40% of its face value — eventually acquiring 4% of Brazil’s total foreign debt.
Dart — the billionaire heir to a styrofoam-cup business — struck a repayment deal, then refused to budge when American banks and the Brazilian government pressed him in 1993 to take a lesser gain as part of a $35 billion restructuring. He found himself vilified in Brazil, but refused to budge — eventually banking a $605m profit.
In America, William Huff has built a fortune of $750m by targeting distressed companies and buying up their debt. In Britain he took a 12.8% stake in NTL and he also blocked the restructuring of Telewest for more than a year after not getting his way. “I told them ... I was taking off the gloves and putting on the brass knuckles,” he told Forbes magazine.
As hedge funds become more active in the debt market, administrators will increasingly find themselves dealing with this new breed of investor.
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