Venture Finance Profit and Part Equity Exit
05 November 2007
General Capital Group plc (AiM: GENC), the independent asset and venture finance specialist, today announces the achievement of an exceptional profit of £0.2m following a capital re-organisation of one of its Venture Finance portfolio clients - Pre-X Capital Management Limited ("Pre-X"), a specialist fund
management and broking business .
General Capital provided an initial term debt facility (the "Facility") to Pre-X on the establishment of that business by John Blowers in 2005. The terms of the Facility included, inter alia, General Capital being entitled to subscribe at par for 89 ordinary Pre-X shares and to receive an additional warrant entitlement to subscribe at par for a further 181 ordinary shares.
Following the appointment of Charles Delamain as CEO in September 2007, Pre-X determined to raise new equity and broaden its shareholder base. To facilitate these arrangements General Capital has exercised its equity warrants and has immediately sold these to certain third party investors for a cash consideration of approximately £0.2m. General Capital retains a 6.5% holding in the enlarged ordinary share capital of Pre-X. Simultaneous with these arrangements, General Capital has converted its existing debt facility into interest bearing preferred ordinary shares.
Pre-X makes and arranges investments in growing companies that are no more than 18 months away from listing their shares on a stock exchange. Pre-X has a series of relationships with nomads, brokers and other professional services firms that bring high-growth companies to the public markets and who assess the pre-IPO financing needs of around 70 companies per month. Pre-X has two EIS funds and is planning to launch a larger fund in early 2008.
Commenting on the transaction, Mark Edworthy, Managing Director of General Capital, said: "We have worked with Pre-X since 2005, during which time we have undertaken a number of joint transactions. Pre-X and General Capital are intending to enter into a Collaborative Trading Agreement which will provide further opportunities".
Founder of Pre-X, John Blowers, added: "It has been an excellent and mutually beneficial working relationship between Pre-X and General Capital and I am pleased that we have concluded more client transactions as a result of the partnership. General Capital has encouraged us to grow aggressively and this transaction exemplifies the progress we have made in our two year history".
For Further Information:
| General Capital Group Plc |
|
| Mark Edworthy, Managing Director | Tel: +44 (0) 1603 610 610 |
| mark.edworthy@generalcapital.co.uk | www.generalcapital.co.uk |
| Collins Stewart Europe Ltd | |
| Chris Wells / Mark Connelly / Adam Cowen | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7523 8000 |
| mconnelly@collins-stewart.com acowen@collins-stewart.com |
www.collins-stewart.com |
Media Enquiries:
| Abchurch Communications | |
| Heather Salmond / Franziska Boehnke | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7700 |
| franziska.boehnke@abchurch-group.com | www.abchurch-group.com |