HgCapital announces investment in fundinfo

RNS Number : 3891P

HgCapital Trust PLC

17 November 2016

 

HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("The Trust"), today announces an investment in fundinfo AG ("fundinfo"), a technology platform for fund data and documents publication and dissemination to the global fund industry, headquartered in Zurich. The terms of this transaction have not been disclosed.

HgCapital Trust plc will invest in fundinfo, alongside other institutional clients of HgCapital, who will participate through the Mercury Fund. The Trust, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all HgCapital's investments. The Trust will contribute a total of approximately £3.1 million.

This acquisition represents the twelfth investment by the Mercury Fund and, following completion, the Fund will be approximately 78% invested.

Based on the 31 October 2016 reported NAV, the Trust's liquid resources available for future deployment, including all announced transactions, are estimated to be £40.1 million (7% of the pro-forma 31 October 2016 NAV). In addition, the Trust has access to a £40 million standby facility, which is currently undrawn. The transaction will reduce the Trust's outstanding commitments to invest in HgCapital deals to approximately £64 million (11% of the pro-forma 31 October 2016 NAV).

HgCapital Mercury announces a significant investment in fundinfo AG

17th November 2016: HgCapital has today announced a significant investment in fundinfo AG ("fundinfo"), a leading technology platform for fund data and documents publication and dissemination to the global fund industry, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. HgCapital will partner with the existing directors of fundinfo, Michael Partin, Philipp Portmann, Jan Giller, Daniel Walter, Matthias Weber and Jochen Gutbrod - to accelerate the development of the business.

Founded in 2005, fundinfo facilitates the publication & dissemination of fund data and documents between asset managers and distributors of funds (including banks, insurance companies, financial advisers, family offices, fund platforms). With over 500 asset management clients, and a network of over 100 distribution partners across Europe and Asia, fundinfo enables over 19 million documents to be made available to the fund industry in a compliant and visible way. The company plays a critical role in the successful distribution of retail funds across 15 fund markets. Its partner business, ifund services AG, is a specialist in fund research and is currently rolling out an automated "robo-advice" offering for fund selection. Going forward, the two companies will continue working together and leverage even more of each other's knowledge and unique positioning in their respective markets.

HgCapital's investment will allow the fundinfo business to continue its expansion into new fund jurisdictions, the further development of fundinfo's analytics offering, and to support the global roll-out of the "openfunds" format for fund data standardisation, which represents a step-change in the way the fund industry manages and exchanges data. fundinfo will join HgCapital's current network of European headquartered FinTech investments, including Intelliflo (SaaS financial advisor software), Ullink (connectivity and trading software) and Sequel (insurance software and analytics).

As part of the transaction, Peter Little will join fundinfo as Chairman. Peter, the former CEO and Chairman of Cadis Software, has a long and successful track record in scaling and growing European vendors to the financial services industry and will support fundinfo in its next phase of global growth.

This represents the twelfth investment from the HgCapital Mercury Fund and its sixth transaction this year following recent investments in France, Germany, Italy and the UK and the sale of insurance software business Relay Software to Applied Systems.

The terms of this transaction were not disclosed. Completion of this transaction is subject to FINMA approval.

Sebastien Briens, a Partner in the HgCapital Mercury team, said:

"The fundinfo team have built a uniquely attractive proposition to asset managers and fund distributors, in enabling the automated distribution of accurate fund documents and data, a task of growing complexity and cost for the industry. We are excited to back the team to drive further innovation in the sector, and notably to support the openfunds format making it a global standard."

Philipp Portmann, CEO of fundinfo, said:
"We believe that HgCapital will be an excellent partner to allow fundinfo to expand the reach and depth of its network. Their experience in scaling software businesses and insight into the broader financial services landscape will be of great relevance to our company. We believe that this partnership will bring significant benefits to our clients as we continue to expand internationally and invest in our unique service offering."

- Ends -

For further details:

HgCapital

Laura Dixon

[phone]

Maitland

Tom Eckersley	[phone]
Jamie Dunkley	[phone]

fundinfo AG

Jan Giller

[phone]

About HgCapital Trust plc

HgCapital Trust plc is an investment trust whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L). The Trust is a client of HgCapital, giving investors exposure to a portfolio of high-growth private companies, through a liquid vehicle. New investments and existing portfolio companies are managed by HgCapital, an experienced and well-resourced private equity firm with a long-term track record of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapitaltrust.com

Neither the contents of HgCapital Trust's, HgCapital's, or fundinfo's websites nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the websites (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

END

 

 

MSCAKADKOBDDPDD