Ex-CEO of SHUAA Capital Buys 17% Stake in Quintas

Quintas Capital, the Cork-based boutique investment firm launched in 2022, is planning to back more companies as it welcomes another investor from the UAE into the fold.

The UAE-based financier Fawad Tariq Khan, the former CEO of Dubai-based SHUAA Capital, the oldest investment bank in the Middle East with $15 billion in assets under management, has acquired a 17% stake in Quintas via Excite Investment, the vehicle he established recently.

The investment is the second major venture by Tariq Khan since leaving Shuaa Capital and he has also founded Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Agentplex with former SHUAA MD Jassim Alseddiqi and tech founder and entrepreneur Anand Chhatpar.

Fawad Tariq Khan is the second investor in Quintas Capital after Kevin MacSweeny, who stepped down as Head of New Investments at Broadlake Capital early this year, also bought 17% share in Quintas Capital, Irish newspaper Business Post said.

Quintas Capital was formed as an independent entity following the acquisition of its parent, Quintas Partners, an accountancy and advisory firm by Xeinadin, a UK based accounting firm backed by private equity firm Exponent.

Led by Kevin Canning, who has a 26% stake in the firm, Quintas Capital provides a number of offerings, including an Employment Investment and Incentive Scheme (EIIS innovation) fund, which invests between $556,396 and $2.78 million in Irish companies.

Among the companies backed by Quintas via that fund are the CX Academy, which provides online Customer Experience (CX) learning and certification. Others include Squid, the loyalty platform, and All Real Nutrition.

Khan and MacSweeney, who are school friends, will use Quintas Capital to invest their own capital into it projects and bring in other investors. Tariq Khan, in particular, is aiming to bring investors from the Middle East into Ireland, specifically into projects where the investment firm can scale businesses into that region.

Kevin Canning said that they will be investing in businesses where we take a minimum of a 30% stake and will invest cheque size of more than $2.78 million.

“We will invest our own capital into each project and that is what is appealing, not only to Kevin and Fawad Tariq Khan also Quintas Capital,” Canning said.

Accessing Irish Market

According to Tariq Khan, the decision to invest in Quintas came about due to the Irish investment platform’s experience and access to the Irish market.

Exnite is still in its early days and we are excited about Agentplex and Quintas in the short term. But we continue seeking opportunities, especially in the areas of data and the digital economy, Khan explained.

“Exnite’s investment thesis for Ireland is underpinned by its economic outperformance compared to peers and a proactive approach to internationalisation due to proximity to the UK, access to the European Single Market and the tradition of US expansion,” Khan added.