Smith seizes minority stake in Maxima

Ian Smith's firm MXC Capital invests £1m in loss-making VAR

Channel M&A string-puller Ian Smith is taking a minority stake in Maxima as part of a £2m share issue at the loss-making VAR.

As reported by ChannelWeb, Smith was yesterday named as Maxima's executive chairman as part of a boardroom reshuffle that saw the resignation of Graham Kingsmill and chairman Kelvin Harrison.

Smith joined the SAP, IBM Citrix and Microsoft partner in a non-executive role last month.

Maxima said yesterday that it would begin a process of selling off non-core units and would also seek to raise £2m through a share issue to strengthen its balance sheet, cut debt and fund its future development.

The London-listed VAR, which sank to a pre-tax loss of £9m in its most recent financial year, announced at lunchtime that the £2m had been raised through a placing of 10 million new shares.

MXC Capital Limited, a company in which Smith is a managing partner, has invested £1m and will hold an interest of five million of the new shares, representing 14.18 per cent of Maxima's issued share capital.

The admission of the new shares is set to take place on 24 October.