St Helens launches pre-IPO fund

29 November 2004

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St Helen's Private Equity Plc (SHPE), a company established to invest in pre-IPO opportunities, is raising up to Â£3m through the issue of 3,000,000 ordinary shares at 100p, giving it a market capitalisation of Â£4.3m. Following the fundraising the company will list on Ofex. It has already secured a first round funding of over Â£300,000.SHPE will target companies in their pre-IPO stage which offer the greatest scope for achieving growth, while being lower risk than the earlier start-up stages. Private equity investments made prior to IPO have outperformed listed shares over three, five and ten year horizons, which underlines the potential substantial value uplift for SHPE. The team is led by chairman Jon Pither, who has wide experience of public and private companies and is also a member of the AIM Advisory Group of the London Stock Exchange. Other members on the Board include: Mark Warde-Norbury, a director of St Helens Group; Lisa Campbell, founder of private investor training company, Training for Profit; Ian Lancaster, founder and CEO of Virgin Cars; and Philip Howard, previously the deputy chairman of Lehman Brothers Europe. Exit, liquidity and timing will influence the size of the stake that the fund will take in any opportunity but may vary between Â£50,000 and Â£250,000. The exit strategy will be clear with the company selling its holdings up to 18 months after the investment was made. Performance fees based on the improvement in the value of the fund will be paid when the fund achieves more than a 15% uplift in net asset value in a financial year.