Chandos Fund marks continued growth of UK's leading equity investor
22nd January 2007
YFM Private Equity is delighted to announce the successful first closing of its Chandos Fund. The £23 million first closing included investments from several UK pension funds and a debt facility from Bank of Scotland. A second close of £40m - £50m is targeted for the second quarter of 2007.
The Chandos fund is an important addition to the YFM Group portfolio as, whilst the YFM Group is already the most active investor in UK SMEs, with this new fund it will now be able to provide equity amounts up to £5m across the UK – a part of the market which is under-served by private equity providers.
The Chandos Fund will invest in small fast growing businesses targeting buy-outs, buy-ins, development capital, pre IPO rounds and equity release/partial sales.
Paul Cannings, who was director of 3i’s smaller buyout and growth capital team in London, has joined YFM as Director of the new fund alongside David Gee and Michael White who are experienced YFM Group investment managers. The new fund will importantly also be drawing on the networks and experience of its investment managers in YFM’s offices across the UK including London, Leeds, Manchester and Bristol.
The Chandos Fund brings YFM Group’s total funds under management to nearly £300m managed by over 40 investment managers from 9 offices across the UK.
Recent investment successes for YFM include the flotation of Hargreaves (transport and distribution services), the sale of SMS (courier and delivery services), and the pre and post IPO success of Cozart (drug testing) and the partial realisation of Tekton (construction software).
David Hall, Managing Director of YFM Private Equity said “YFM Group is already the most active investor in UK SMEs, so we are delighted to be able to expand our product range to meet the requirements of entrepreneurs and businesses as the Chandos fund now enables us to provide equity investments of up to £5m in SMEs across all sectors in all parts of the UK. This is an exciting time for YFM, as in addition to this successful first closing we are also undertaking a £15 million Top-up Offer on the British Smaller Companies VCT”
Note to Editors:
YFM Private Equity is part of the YFM Group, which has more than 20 years' experience of investing in UK Small and Medium Enterprises and is active across all stages of funding, from early stage venture capital to growth capital and management buy-outs.
In the last 12 months, YFM Group evaluated over 1,275 business plans which lead to them participating in over 120 deals investing over £22 million in 90 companies; Due to the leveraging effect of venture capital the total transactions were worth over £127 million - making YFM Group the most active investor in UK SMEs .
The British Smaller Companies VCT (BSC VCT) is one of the fastest growing VCTs and a Top 10 performer (out of 158) in terms of Net Asset Value Growth over 1, 3 and 5 years
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Andy Cucksey, Group Marketing Manager, YFM Group:
Tel: 0113 294 5044
E-Mail: andy.cucksey@yfmgroup.co.uk