Pollen Street acquired by Honeycomb Investment Trust

Honeycomb will issue 29,472,663 new shares for the entire issued share capital of Pollen Street, which is valued at around GBP 285m. Pollen Street shareholders are expected to receive new shares equivalent to approximately 45.53% of the share capital in the combined group.

The firms will be combined into a listed entity owned by the shareholders of both companies, according to a statement. This entity is expected to move from being an investment trust towards operating as a commercial company.

Shareholders representing around 56.4% of Honeycomb's issued share capital have given their support to the transaction, according to the same statement. Honeycomb has obtained irrevocable undertakings to vote in favour of the deal from Quilter Investors, CC Beekeeper (an investment entity affiliated with Capital Constellation and managed by Wafra), Phoenix Insurance and a related party, and Caledonian Consumer Finance.

Honeycomb was formed in 2015 and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker "HONY".

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in London, Pollen Street is an alternative investment management firm with private equity and private credit strategies. It focuses on the financial and business services sectors.

Pollen Street Capital IV (PSC IV) held a final close in December 2021 on GBP 1bn. The fund targets businesses with enterprise values of up to GBP 200m, deploying equity tickets of GBP 20m-100m.

Under the new combination, the group will be entitled to 25% of the total carried interest from PSC IV, as well as 25% of the total carry entitlement in all future Pollen Street funds.

Private equity IPOs and market consolidation are hot topics in the current private equity markets. Recent examples of consolidation include CVC's acquisition of Glendower Capital to expand into the secondaries market, as well as its reported IPO plans. Sweden-listed EQT acquired specialised healthcare VC firm LSP in 2021 to expand its offering in the sector. Meanwhile, London-headquartered Bridgepoint underwent a listing in summer 2021, and US-headquartered TPG listed in January 2022.

Although Pollen Street is set to combine with a listed entity, rather than list via its own IPO, the dynamics at play for public investors and LPs are likely to be much the same. Unquote and Mergermarket reported on the potential liquidity options available for sponsors via public markets in December 2021, with listings opening up both possibilities for market consolidation and further professionalisation at GP level.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• GPs
• UK / Ireland
• United Kingdom