Peter Churchill-Smith : Creating Opportunities

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Peter Churchill-Smith

As a Managing Director of Newport Partners, Peter Churchill-Smith provides individuals and families with investment and wealth management services. He has spent his entire 30-year career working with and advising successful entrepreneurs: - 10 years of lending and providing capital and 20 years managing the private wealth of entrepreneurs and their families.

Peter is passionate about the experience of entrepreneurs who have sold a business - an area of specialization for Newport Partners. He has written several articles on the subject and most recently helped launch Newport Partners' nation wide survey of business sellers that further strengthens the firm’s capability in advising the next generation of business-sellers.

Prior to joining Newport Partners in 2001, Peter was a Vice President with Connor Clark Private Trust (now RBC Private Counsel) and Vice President of Mutual Securities Inc. and Mutual Trust Company. He also spent 10 years in the commercial lending business at both Morguard Bank of Canada and Mercantile Bank of Canada.

The european rescue plan and greece bailout - how does it impact you?

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Peter Churchill-Smith

image of euro and buildings At Newport Partners, our perspective is always the same – how does an issue affect the personal and business affairs of our entrepreneur clients and their families?

It was very evident last week that investors were looking past Greece’s debt woes to the much larger fiscal problems in Europe. Bold measures were needed to calm the waters ...and fast! The authorities sent a forceful message to the market – “we will do what has to be done”.

Tags: Economic News, European Rescue Plan, Investing

The science of better selling

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Peter Churchill-Smith

book cover: neuromarketing Together with 120 other entrepreneurs from CEO Global (a Toronto-based CEO coaching organization), I spent a morning two weeks ago listening to Christophe Morin, marketing guru and author of Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer's Brain

The premise of the book – and the talk – was that we can use the latest brain research to redefine our sales messages and deliver them with more impact by better understanding how people make buying decisions.

Candidly, I was not sure what I was in for. But with low expectations, I was more than pleasantly surprised and left the session with a number of good ideas that I thought were worth sharing.

Chris Morin's main point was surprisingly simple!

Tags: Business Ideas, Christophe Morin

The prosperity gap

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Peter Churchill-Smith

We had our quarterly visit from Maureen Farrow last week. (Maureen is a highly-respected Canadian economist whom we retain to provide us with economic analysis and briefings.)

All things being equal given the tough economy, she's feeling relatively bullish about Canada’s prospects these days. There is an unusual amount of global investor interest in our country and with good reason.

After all, it’s no secret that Canada has survived the financial crisis better than almost all other major industrialized nations of the world.

Tags: Investing, Maureen Farrow, Mergers & Acquisitions

Interest rates - confused?

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Peter Churchill-Smith

You are to be forgiven if you are having a hard time trying to sort out all the conflicting news about interest rates and inflation. You’re not alone. Even the experts frequently disagree.

This is an important issue for entrepreneurs and investors as many of us borrow money - either personally or corporately (likely both!).

We’ll try to clear up the confusion and offer some perspective on what the future holds for the balance of 2010.

Tags: Addenda Capital, Bank of Canada, Economic News, Interest Rates

Read between the headlines for opportunity in commercial real estate

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Peter Churchill-Smith

If you’ve been reading the headlines coming out of the U.S. recently, you know the bottom’s falling out of the commercial property market. Defaults, delinquencies and foreclosures on office buildings, retail centres, industrial warehouses, etc. have swept the country. Pretty bearish conditions for mortgage holders on these properties.

In Canada, however, despite a difficult recession, the situation is quite a bit different. And this is creating opportunities for investors north of the border.

So say Don and Ben Rodney -- two experts who ought to know.

Tags: Alan Pyle, Ben Rodney, CMBS, Commercial Real Estate, Don Rodney, Investing, RFA Capital Management