Saitz, Schlafly, Kalishman lead $2.2 million fund group

From The St. Louis Business Journal. Thursday, September 5, 2008
by Rick Desloge

Twenty-two investors, including banker Jim Saitz, St. Louis Brewery owner Tom Schlafly and fund manager John Kalishman of Harcourt Capital, have invested $2.2 million into a new Saint Louis Private Fund, which will invest alongside the Saint Louis Business Development Fund (BDF), a for-profit fund owned by 24 area banks.

“Potentially we’ll be able to do bigger deals,” said Rick Palank, senior vice president of business finance with the St. Louis County Economic Council, who helped create the BDF.

Like BDF, the Private Fund will have an investment limit of $500,000, Palank said, which will give qualifying businesses an opportunity to borrow as much as $1 million.

Both funds will target small- and medium-size companies in the region. The Private Fund will finance companies that show promise for growth in sales, profits and new jobs and have financial statements that make the investment too great a risk for a single commercial loan.

Palank said the Private Fund will enter into an agreement with St. Louis County Economic Council, which will provide administrative services for the fund. The council also administers the BDF.