Further to the announcement on 14 June 2021 that the Company was considering the issue of new ordinary shares, today the Company is pleased to announce a proposed issue of ordinary shares in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) to raise gross proceeds of £40 million (the “Initial Issue”) as part of an ongoing share issuance programme (the “Share Issuance Programme”), the details of which will be set out in the Prospectus expected to be published by the Company later today.
The Initial Issue will be by way of a placing, open offer, offer for subscription and intermediaries offer for a target issue of 29,562,798 new Ordinary Shares at an issue price of 135.5 pence per Ordinary Share (the “Issue Price”). The Issue Price represents a premium of 3.9 per cent. to the NAV per Ordinary Share as at 31 March 2021 and a discount of 6.1 per cent. to the closing price per Ordinary Share on 11 June 2021 of 144.25 pence per Ordinary Share (being the last Business Day prior to the announcement of the Issue Price).
The Initial Issue is conditional, inter alia, on the passing of the shareholder resolutions in connection with the Initial Issue to be proposed at a general meeting of the Company expected to take place on or around 8 July 2021 (the “Issue Resolutions”) (the “General Meeting”). Conditional on the passing of the shareholder Issue Resolutions, the maximum number of new Ordinary Shares that may be issued pursuant to the Initial Issue and the Share Issuance Programme is 150,000,000.
Investment Strategy, Financial Highlights and Pipeline
· The Company launched with the investment objective of generating capital growth over the long term through investment in a focused portfolio of fast growing and/or high potential private financial services technology (“fintech”) businesses based predominantly in the UK and wider Europe
· The Company has now deployed substantially all of the capital raised through the IPO as well as issues thereafter, and as at 11 June 2021, had cash and cash equivalent reserves of approximately £19 million, which is partly being held back as a prudent cash buffer as well as being available for making new investments and follow-on investments into the Company’s existing portfolio
· Through the Portfolio Manager’s existing industry relationships, the Company expects to be able to benefit from access to an identified, live pipeline of assets currently in excess of £1 billion across all target sectors and geographies, of which approximately £194 million represents opportunities in active development, and intends to continue to grow the Company’s portfolio
· Accordingly, following consultation with the Portfolio Manager, the Board has concluded that now is an appropriate time to raise additional equity as well as increase the Company’s ability to raise equity over the next 12 months via the placing programme to provide the Company with sufficient flexibility to take advantage of the identified pipeline and current fintech opportunity in the UK and wider Europe
Issue Highlights
· Targeting gross proceeds of £40 million via the issue of up to 29,562,798 new Ordinary Shares pursuant to an Initial Placing, Open Offer, Offer for Subscription and Intermediaries Offer
· The Issue Price is 135.5 pence per new Ordinary Share, representing a premium of 3.9 per cent. to the NAV per Ordinary Share as at 31 March 2021 of 130.4 pence and a discount of 6.1 per cent. to the closing price per Ordinary Share on 11 June 2021 of 144.25 pence per Ordinary Share (being the last Business Day prior to the announcement of the Issue Price)
· Shareholders who qualify for the Open Offer (“Qualifying Shareholders”) will be offered the opportunity to participate in the Open Offer on the basis of 4 new Ordinary Shares for every 19 existing Ordinary Shares (the “Open Offer Entitlement”)
· Qualifying Shareholders will also be offered the opportunity to subscribe for Ordinary Shares in addition to their Open Offer Entitlement under an excess application facility (the “Excess Application Facility”)
· The Initial Issue is conditional, inter alia, upon the approval by Shareholders of the Issue Resolutions proposed at the General Meeting convened for 8 July 2021
Neil England, Chairman of Augmentum, commented:
“The strong trend towards a digital economy, accelerated by the pandemic, continues, and with the European economy looking set to return to growth, fintech looks well positioned to benefit.
With Augmentum the acknowledged specialist in early stage fintech and with a strong pipeline of interesting opportunities, we believe the Company can continue to deliver attractive returns for its shareholders”
Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech Management Limited, commented:
“With positive trading continuing across our portfolio we are very much focussed in seeking out new and exciting investment opportunities. We now have a pipeline of over £1 billion across all our target sectors and geographies, including approximately £194 million of opportunities in active development, and as such are well positioned to continue to grow the portfolio.”