Waterloo Area investment group confirms “go-ahead” position

Waterloo – Spirited Investors Corporation announced that it has closed its first private investment offering. With the necessary funds in place, the company has started commercial operations and is actively searching for companies in which to invest both time and money.

Company president Rick Baker is clearly pleased with this important milestone. “We are now in a position to move forward and actively commit to private equity investments that show real promise. This is an extraordinary community with many opportunities, and we expect to acquire and guide several companies to greater profitability, with results expected in 2008.”

Spirited Investors was founded on a simple investment principle: find mid-stage companies that fit certain criteria, invest according to a disciplined plan, then carefully apply the capital, time and energy of a few experienced and talented business people - ultimately building better businesses for our community.

The company specializes in what it calls the “TurnAhead” business investment, where problems disguise major opportunities. These prospects - stuck in specific, problem situations – represent a lucrative opportunity for return on investment. TurnAheads are more than simply fixable, they are hugely profitable if the right changes are identified and implemented.

“I know it sounds cliché, but many companies simply lack a clear sense of business excellence,” Baker explains. “They may have a faulty sales strategy or poor execution in order processing, or partners in dispute, but they can’t see the solutions, or won’t commit to change.”

Investors are drawn to Spirited Investors because of its management experience in building profitable businesses and selling them. A core group of active investors called “Activestors” guides the company and actively helps acquired companies. Their business experience is applied to solving problems quickly. It’s a model that lowers investment risk while propelling the business forward.

Beyond their experience and success in business, the team at Spirited Investors is driven by a passion to help foundering enterprises. For Spirited Investors, commitment to excellence doesn’t stop with the goal of high return on investment.

“Helping a company to reverse misfortune saves jobs and adds to the prosperity of the entire region,” says Baker. “At the end of the day, business is always more rewarding when it results in a positive impact on our community.”

Spirited Investors began as the vision of Rick Baker, a successful entrepreneur with a proven model for building, finding, buying, fixing and selling businesses at a significant profit. Spirited Investors seeks out and captures specific business investment opportunities where prospective businesses have been carefully researched. The opportunity is identified primarily as a situation of distress or unrealized potential, where the targeted company lacks the needed, timely combination of know-how and capital.

Spirited Investors is an active participant in the community, sponsoring and supporting many important local initiatives and non-profit organizations, including: Heartwood Place, Leadership Waterloo Region, our Chambers of Commerce, and CBET (Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology).