NAV Announcement and Portfolio Update
The information contained in this announcement is restricted and is not for publication, release or distribution in the United States of America, any member state of the European Economic Area (other than the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland), Canada, Australia, Japan or the Republic of South Africa.
Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited
5 March 2019
For immediate release
Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited (the "Company")
NAV Announcement and Portfolio Update
Net Asset Value
The Company announces that as at 31 December 2018 the unaudited net asset value ("NAV") per ordinary share was 98.54 pence.
The above NAV calculation is based on the Company's issued share capital of 100,000,000 ordinary shares of no par value.
Update on portfolio composition
Since the Company's admission to the premium segment of the Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market in November 2018 ("Admission"), the Company has deployed approximately 85 per cent of the net proceeds of the initial issue in the following investments:
TransferWise
TransferWise was founded with the aim of reducing fees associated with sending money across borders. With a simple money transfer platform and borderless accounts, TransferWise makes it quick and easy for individuals that travel, live and work internationally to manage their money. Businesses can use TransferWise to pay suppliers or employees overseas, request payments from customers and transfer funds between their own accounts in different countries. Over four million people use TransferWise to transfer over £3 billion every month, saving themselves over £3 million every day.
The Company invested approximately US$22 million in TransferWise on Admission.
Secret Escapes
Secret Escapes is a members-only online travel company. Its digital marketplace uses innovative technology to connect travellers with discounts on luxury hotels and travel experiences. It helps hotels minimise unsold inventory by allowing them to discreetly market to its members who are seeking luxury travel at affordable prices. The firm operates in many countries around the world and is the market-leading membership based travel company in the UK, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Nordics.
The Company invested approximately £13 million in Secret Escapes on Admission.
The Hut Group
The Hut Group is an ecommerce business that operates a highly scalable, end-to-end proprietary technology platform powering sales of its own and third-party brands online. The firm has invested significantly in its infrastructure, technology platform and brands and is one of the world's largest online beauty and wellbeing businesses.
In December 2018, the Company announced an investment of approximately £9.5 million in The Hut Group.
Graphcore
Graphcore is a leading artificial intelligence processor business, which has developed the Intelligence Processing Unit ("IPU") and the related Poplar® graph software toolchain. The IPU is a processor that has been designed from the ground up for machine intelligence applications and supports the training and inference of deep learning models, as well as other machine learning approaches. Based in Bristol, Graphcore's products can improve the efficiency and performance of artificial intelligence applications by between 10 to 100 times, compared to existing hardware solutions.
The Company invested approximately US$25 million in a $200 million series D funding round conducted in December 2018.
Growth Street
Growth Street has developed an innovative peer-to-peer (P2P) product specifically targeted at UK SMEs. The firm's proprietary technology platform integrates with a number of data sources to provide unmatched speed, flexibility and credit monitoring for SMEs. Growth Street reconciles accounting, bank and credit data on a daily basis which enables it to streamline the credit decision process and provide ongoing credit monitoring and credit line adjustment. Its flagship business finance facility, GrowthLine, is a highly flexible revolving line of credit designed to replace and extend bank overdrafts and invoice financing. Growth Street has facilitated more than £80 million of borrowing since launching in 2014.
The Company invested approximately £5 million in a funding round conducted in January 2019.
Starling Bank
Starling Bank is a digital challenger bank which has built a scalable platform that delivers a range of financial services. Core products include bank accounts for both retail and SME customers, which allow users to bank via a mobile app, offering digital sign-up, instant notification of transactions insights into spending habits and 24/7 support.
In February 2019 the Company committed to invest approximately £19 million in a £60 million series C funding round, subject to regulatory approval (since received) and customary closing conditions. The Company later noted that Starling Bank was awarded a £100 million grant from the Capability and Innovation Fund.
Revenue growth
The weighted average revenue growth rate in 2018 of the companies within the portfolio was in excess of 50 per cent over 2017.
Pipeline
The Company has a strong and growing pipeline of investment opportunities across a range of sectors. Accordingly, the Company intends to raise additional capital in the near future.
Richard Watts, co-fund manager comments:
"We are delighted that the majority of the proceeds from initial issue have been deployed within four months of Admission. We believe this demonstrates that our team's scale and strong presence in the listed equity market has made the Company highly attractive to later stage, private businesses that recognise the benefit of a long-term supportive investor. We continue to explore a range of exciting investment opportunities. "
-End-
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For further information, please contact: Merian Global Investors: Amelie Shepherd
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+44 (0) 20 7332 7500 |
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Liberum: Gillian Martin / Christopher Britton
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+44 (0) 20 3829 5000 |
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Maitland Administration (Guernsey) Limited: Aimee Gontier / Elaine Smeja |
+44 (0) 1481 749364 |
LEI: 213800F9SQ753JQHSW24
A copy of this announcement will be available on the Company's website at https://www.merian.com/chrysalis/.
This announcement is for information purposes only and is not an offer to invest. All investments are subject to risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Prospective investors are advised to seek expert legal, financial, tax and other professional advice before making any investment decision. The value of investments may fluctuate. Results achieved in the past are no guarantee of future results. Neither the content of the Company's website, nor the content on any website accessible from hyperlinks on its website for any other website, is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement nor, unless previously published by means of a recognised information service, should any such content be relied upon in reaching a decision as to whether or not to acquire, continue to hold, or dispose of, securities in the Company.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
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