About Us - Duke Royalty

Our Story

In 2014, the founders of Duke Royalty had one thing in common – a keen awareness that the rapidly developing Canadian royalty financing market was providing a solution for business owners and investors that did not materially exist outside of North America. Drawing on 15 years of experience bringing successful Canadian ideas to the UK market, Neil Johnson had the ardent belief that business in Europe could greatly benefit from this Canadian solution, and along with colleague Charlie Cannon-Brookes, they developed the answer.

The business partners wanted to bring an even better royalty model to the European stage rather than just create another competitor in the Canadian royalty market. They put their collective expertise to work, amassed a broader group of financial executives and royalty experts, and additionally lowered fixed costs through an efficient corporate structure and exclusive deal alliances that are designed to deliver optimised results in proprietary deal flow and better due diligence. In 2015, Duke Royalty was born.

Our Causes

As part of Duke Royalty’s Responsible Investment (ESG) Policy, we believe in being good corporate citizens in the communities we operate in and giving back to charities and good causes. Much like the genesis of Duke Royalty itself, bringing a Canadian charity to the European stage is in keeping with the ethos of our firm.

Therefore, we are a proud sponsor of the Terry Fox Run UK for the Institute of Cancer Research, which has our CEO and CFO on it’s organizing committee. Terry Fox is a Canadian hero – the 22-year-old amputee ran 3,339 miles over 143 days (averaging a marathon a day) across Canada in 1980 raising money for cancer research after cancer had taken his right leg. He had to stop before he finished his Marathon of Hope, as cancer had spread to his lungs, and he died the next year. The run raises money for the Institute of Cancer Research – a leading UK cancer charity – in the name of Terry Fox, Canada’s hero. After a 14 year absence, thanks in part to Duke Royalty executives, the Terry Fox Run is now back to being an annual event in Central London and as a virtual run anywhere the UK.

Our dedication to good causes includes other charities as well. In Toronto, Duke Royalty and Abingdon Capital support the Yonge Street Mission, a charity helping rise people from poverty in the city since 1896.

Click the links below to learn more about our causes:

1st Public Royalty Co in the Uk

Leading Royalty Executives

Unique Investment Process

Core Values

Our Core Values provide the foundation of our Responsible Investment (ESG) Policy.

Transparency: We treat our partners and stakeholders with honesty, integrity, fairness and respect, contributing to strength and longevity of our relationships. This extends to the transparency of our governance and investment process.
Accountability: We are accountable to each other, our stakeholders, our royalty partners, and the communities where we do business. We aim to be responsible investors and a good corporate citizen.
Creativity: We believe change is the only way forward and seek out different perspectives to meet business challenges and situations. Ours is a flexible financial solution designed to meet the evolving needs of small to mid-sized business owners.
Focus: We aim to be a trusted partner for small to mid-sized businesses. We keep a focus of our approach to investing and our investment criteria. We are sensible and keep things as simple as possible for our royalty partners.
Teamwork: We collaborate and support each other and our partners, as we recognise the value of diversity of thought in problem solving and innovation, and support diversity within our team.

Rigorous Investment Process

Our investment committee is made up of highly experienced investment and royalty finance professionals.

Each potential royalty partner is assessed by the committee, which is independent of Duke’s senior management, against our investment criteria and our Responsible Investment (ESG) Policy.