It has been another busy and successful year at Foresight and we wanted to share some of our Private Equity team's most defining moments of 2019.

We have made a total of 45 new and follow-on investments across the UK, deploying close to £75 million of capital into a diverse range of businesses on behalf of our institutional and retail investment funds.  Our current portfolio now stands at more than 90 companies, having backed 23 new companies during the year. We successfully sold three businesses, the highlight being the sale of Mercia Power, which returned 3.8x to our investors.

We have also continued the roll out of our regional strategy, identifying funding gaps and those regions where investment has traditionally been lacking, offering not only funding but also business support for budding SMEs.

We have opened two new regional offices in Cambridge and Edinburgh to manage the £100 million Foresight East of England Fund and £20 million Foresight Scottish Growth Fund respectively and expanded our Private Equity team to 28 to support the deployment of these new regional funds. Our retail sales team also raised an impressive £40 million during the year for our EIS and VCT funds. 

In 2020, we expect the rate of deployment to continue whilst completing a number of promising exits.

Behind every deal there lies a whole host of stakeholders working hard to make it happen.  We wanted to thank you for partnering with us in 2019 and look forward to working together again in 2020 and into the new decade.

NEW REGIONAL FUNDS

Foresight Scottish Growth Fund - £20 million

In December we announced the Foresight Scottish Growth Fund, a £20 million fund financed by the Scottish Growth Scheme through a combination of Scottish Government funds and the European Regional Development Fund, offering equity investments of up to £2 million in deals up to £10 million.

To support the deployment of the Fund, we established a local investment team based in our new George Street office in Edinburgh, hiring Dan Halliday and Graeme McKinstry.

Foresight East of England Fund - £100 million

Created to invest in established companies with a view to assisting management teams with their growth ambitions, this £100 million Fund is a permanent pool of patient capital targeting equity investments of between £1 million and £5 million into SMEs in the East of England and beyond.

The Fund is cornerstoned by Cambridgeshire Pension Fund, with the objective of providing long term value growth for investors.

We have recruited Matt McLoughlin to support deployment of this fund.

DEALS SINCE AUGUST

Roxy: £7.5 million commitment into market-leading social entertainment group. Read the announcement here.

Footfalls and Heartbeats: Additional £749,000 investment into a developer and manufacturer of patented smart sensor fabrics. Read the announcement here.

AMT: £2.0 million investment into developer of technology designed to unlock the potential of industrial additive manufacturing. Read the announcement here.

Biotherapy Services: £3.0 million into a biopharmaceutical company specialising in regenerative medicine for the treatment of complex wounds. Read the announcement here.

Promethean Particles: £749,000 invested into a company specialising in the manufacturing of nanomaterials. Read the announcement here.

Mixergy: £1.6 million into Oxford University spin-out set to revolutionise the global hot water tank market and reduce the cost of energy for consumers. Read the announcement here.

Novosound: £2.0 million investment into novel thin film ultrasound technology company. Read the announcement here.

For further information, please contact:

Email: info@foresightgroup.eu

Phone: 020 3667 8100