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11th November 2007
CAT.103
M&A
BEST YEAR EVER
Catapult Venture Managers, which specialises in providing equity capital for businesses requiring between £200k and £2m, is enjoying its best year ever and on target to complete around 20 transactions across its three funds before the end of 2007.
Since 2003, it has invested in over 52 companies, providing initial and further follow on funding. Managing Director Rob Carroll commented: “We now have funds totaling £80m under our management, and transactions in the last quarter are proving particularly buoyant.
“Our £30m East Midlands Regional Venture Capital Fund (EMRCVF) has already completed seven new deals this year. The latest is in Nottingham-based drug development company Zysis Ltd, which is currently working on two exciting drug reformulation products. Other new deals include: Blackstar Amplification, Sigmala and FDTEK.
“We’ve also completed further investments into: Monica Healthcare, Brake Testing International, Haemostatix, Digeprint and Safetoeat.”
Another notable success story can be found at Northamptonshire-based security software and hardware company Transvisual Media Limited (TVM), which has been acquired by Soncell Limited, a manufacturing subsidiary of Bowmer and Kirkland.
Rob Carroll comments: “This trade sale represents a success story for both the TVM management team and Catapult who managed investments into the business totaling £500k in May 2005 and June 2006,” he said.
“Companies looking to seek a share of the EMRCVF need to act now as the end of the investment period approaches. However, Companies wishing to raise up to £2m can still be funded from the two other funds Catapult manages.”
Catapult’s Birmingham office, which runs the £20m Advantage Enterprise and Innovation Fund (AEIF) - funded by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund - has enjoyed a run of completions since September. This includes leading a £1.2m investment into Synchro Limited, designers and developers of a unique software package for the construction industry.
It has completed two further transactions from the AEIF Fund in November. The first is a £250,000 investment into Michelson Diagnostics Ltd (MDL), a company developing pioneering technology for cancer diagnosis and treatment. It raised a total of £600,000 in this investment round of early stage funding, with the remaining financial backing coming from London Seed Capital and London Business Angels.
In the second transaction, Catapult was a key investor in a £1.6m funding round into Anaxsys Technology Limited, developers of a revolutionary portfolio of products including an asthma monitoring device.
Anaxsys secured the funding from a syndicate of institutional and private investors, in order to complete commercialization of its lead Asthma Diagnostic and Disease Management Tool, and for the setting-up a new Head office at Keele Science Park.
At the start of the year Catapult Venture Managers launched its new £30 million Catapult Growth Fund with a geographical focus primarily on the Midlands, but with a remit to also invest nationally. The Fund’s first investment was for £1.2m into Oxford Genome Sciences – OgeS (UK) Ltd of Abingdon, alongside £400k each from the South East Growth Fund (SEGF) and Oxford Capital Partners (OCP).
The work that OGeS undertakes could change the face of medicine forever. Its unique technology holds one of the world’s largest proprietary collections of genomic, proteomic and clinical information, which is then used to aid the development of personalized medicines - tailoring drug treatments to an individuals biological profile - for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
The Catapult Growth Fund’s second investment was a £500k injection into Chesterfield-based Kyoob Space, a rapidly growing and profitable operator in the premium end of the portable and modular buildings market. The Fund is due to complete a further transaction over the coming weeks.
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For further information please contact Rob Carroll at Catapult Venture Managers on 0870 116 1600 or 07976 226252; or Paul Shrimpton at PSPR Ltd on 0121 354 7311 or 07979 505322
Note to editors:
Catapult Venture Managers Ltd is a leading private equity fund manager with one of the largest investment teams in the Midlands operating from offices in Birmingham and Leicester. With 80m in Funds under its management Catapult seek equity investment opportunities from £200k to £2m and focus primarily on development capital and buy-out transactions. Contact details for Catapult are 0870 116 3000 (Birmingham), 0870 116 1600 (Leicester) or aeif@catapult-vm.co.uk Catapult Venture Managers Ltd is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority. The Advantage Enterprise and Innovation Fund (AEIF) is funded by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund.
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