Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 15, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba The Jewish Post fc News Financial Guide 2001 3 X Crocus Investment Fund Helping build a stonger Manitoba As preeminent venture capital Crocus seems like many other mu tual funds at first But when you look more closely you see something Crocus sells shares of their fund to Manitobans and invests the money in small and midsized local True to their theyre very good at selling Crocus to Manitobans who are looking for a tax credit and a competitive rate of return on their More than Manitobans are allowing Crocus to invest more than million in 55 local helping save or maintain nearly most of them right here in Its a track record to be proud yet Crocus is much more than a Manitoba investment Crocus believes in using its relation and knowledge to help make Manitoba a great place to raise a and build a says Sherman President and CEO of Crocus Investment When a person with to invest chooses they want more than simply a tax credit and a competitive rate of theyre also thinking about strengthening our provincial economy and building stronger local At the core of the Fund is Crocus invest ment The Funds financial success is derived from the entire says With 55 compa nies representing many sectors of our we have real We focus on established companies that see Manitoba as and look for outstanding Crocus works hand in hand with the companies in which it invests providing many valueadded and promoting employee ownership and participative show that businesses that have both employee owner ship and participative management often form other says Investments by Crocus in companies willing to look at employee ownership and participative management are reaping the same benefits here in Approximately onequarter of the employees in the 55 companies have the oppor to take part in an ownership and become ers by the time we exit these says This approach helps keep Manitoba businesses under Manitoba ownership for the Financial Guide is a of POST News distributed to over select homes by The Winnipeg Free Press and POST News MB Phone 6943332 Fax 6943916 email Business Bernie Bellan Sherman President CEO of the Crocus Fund long term and it also means corporate decisions tend to be about more then the bottom When Manitoba is your home and youre an you tend to also consider the real impact on people and economy he Working to Improve companies perform ance In order to take advantage of the collective knowledge and experience of the people leading these Crocus brings together several times per In these CEO Roundtable managers talk to their peers about changes in their businesses and have the to learn from each To further promote the idea of participative Crocus created a certificate pro gram with help from the Faculty of Management at the University of Eight senior man agers from Crocus portfolio companies recently graduated from the first and the second course will be offered this fall through U of Ms Continuing Education Before Crocus chooses to invest in a they undertake extensive financial due diligence and conduct a social which looks at non financial areas such as employment and environmental They are also interested in working with Best of Sector companies in industries with specific areas of The hog industry is a example of where Crocus chose this best of sector We turned down several investment proposals before we invested in Dynamic says Dynamic was different because they were com mitted to the highest environmental standards and wanted to set the bar higher for the whole It wont be long before all producers have to achieve this same higher standard and that is good for our economy and for our environ Working to revitalize down town Crocus also believes that revitalizing downtown is critical to longterm economic success for Mani and for companies in their Theyve worked closely with Sam Katz on the financing of CanWest Global last year they partnered with the Forks North Portage Partnership and the Free Press to produce free concerts at the Crocus is also a partner in the Manitoba and is actively involved in the planning of the True North Entertainment Complex in Our idea is to bring more people downtown for more days of the and to do so we have to says More people living and working downtown is the key to revitalizing the Part of the measure of a citys success is how well the downtown and ours needs As part of their downtown Crocus is working with down town Development Corporation to develop the Downtown Revitalization Fund At the Crocus Annual General Meeting last year we introduced our shareholders to Concert a BC development company that in vests money in affordable housing in British Co on behalf of more than 20 British Colum bia pension says This visit led to a partnership with here in Winnipeg to work to create a permanent capital pool of funds that could be used here in a similar manner to how Concert uses pension funds in The idea is to have crown corporations and pension funds invest capital in the DRF that would be loaned out at market rates for various commu development The initial focus of the DRF will be on the renovation of heritage buildings in the Exchange District for housing and commercial Were looking at creating a million capi tal pool for downtown revitalization which will initially focus on renovating buildings in the East Old Market Square and Central Park Tie We need a higher density of people living so this fund will help renovate buildings for mixed uses commercial and Crocus is putting its money where its mouth Theyve signed a lease and will be the anchor tenant in the former Big 4 Sales building on the corner of Bannatyne and Main Street in the Ex change Heritage restoration of the build ing will start immediately and Crocus will share the building with and an artists coop that will provide lofts for Crocus is also active in core area Using a grant from the Mott Foundation in the United Crocus helped create Community Ownership a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create largescale market driven businesses to provide perma nent employment to Our goal is to create businesses that are sus says Were looking at creating new businesses from scratch or leveraging up businesses already on the Were working with community and business leaders and are cur rently evaluating a couple different business ideas that we think are There is significant human resource potential in our community that needs to be And Crocus is helping the Westland Foundation raise funds to provide core area stu dents with scholarships for postsecondary edu Every student in the program will earn scholar ship dollars for every A grade they receive in any course they take from grade 7 through says We realize that a will not pay all the costs of a student going to college or but its a Its a selfhelp which gives the kids role models and the idea that postsecondary education is a real pos Once the kids start gathering up their they will qualify for other scholarships and be on their way to a brighter comes full says ers benefit personally from tax credits and the competitive rate of return earned by their invest and they help create Manitoba jobs that strengthen our A strong economy means vibrant more and a better quality of life for all Its a great feeling for shareholders to know they are making a real difference for themselves and their For more information on the Crocus Investment call them at 9252401 or tollfree outside Winnipeg and 1 800361
