HgCapital Trust PLC HgCapital announces investment in Evaluate (5421O)

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RNS Number : 5421O

HgCapital Trust PLC

08 November 2016

8 November 2016

HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("The Trust"), today announces an investment in Evaluate Group ("Evaluate"), a London-headquartered provider of commercial intelligence to the global life sciences industry. The terms of this transaction have not been disclosed.

HgCapital Trust plc will invest in Evaluate, alongside other institutional clients of HgCapital, who will participate through the Mercury Fund. The Trust, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all HgCapital's investments. The Trust will contribute a total of approximately GBP3.7 million.

This acquisition represents the eleventh investment by the Mercury Fund and, following completion, the Fund will be approximately 72% invested.

Based on the 31 October 2016 reported NAV, the Trust's liquid resources available for future deployment, including all announced transactions, are estimated to be GBP43 million (7% of the pro-forma 31 October 2016 NAV). In addition, the Trust has access to a GBP40 million standby facility, which is currently undrawn. The transaction will reduce the Trust's outstanding commitments to invest in HgCapital deals to approximately GBP67 million (11% of the pro-forma 31 October 2016 NAV).

HgCapital announces investment in Evaluate

8 November 2016: HgCapital has today announced an investment in Evaluate Group ("Evaluate"), a London-headquartered provider of commercial intelligence to the global life sciences industry. The terms of this transaction have not been disclosed.

Evaluate is the trusted provider of mission critical commercial information for complex business decisions to the pharmaceutical industry. Evaluate's core product is an industry leading set of analyst consensus forecasts that provides detailed insights at the product, disease, indication and geographic level. Evaluate creates value by structuring, normalising and integrating data from company filings, research organisations, and government bodies and providing tools that drive analytical insights from data. Evaluate was the first mover in this particular space and is a leading provider today.

The investment in Evaluate reflects another example of the Mercury team's approach to investing behind technology businesses which occupy growing niches, typically led by founders seeking to identify an expert partner who is able to help them further scale their business. The Company exhibits a number of the business model characteristics that HgCapital looks for including: a focus on recurring subscription contracts, a track record of consistent double-digit revenue growth, high levels of customer advocacy and operating within a segment with long term growth potential.

This represents the eleventh investment from the Mercury Fund and the fourth investment this year following other recent investments in Germany and France.

HgCapital was advised by Portico Capital, Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Deloitte. Evaluate was advised by Quayle Munro, RPC and EY.

David Issott, Director in the Mercury team, said:

"We are delighted to be partnering with the team at Evaluate for the next phase of their journey. Evaluate represents exactly the type of investment opportunity that we raised Mercury to support: a founder entrepreneur looking for a value-add partner to help scale their business and fulfil its potential. We are also pleased to be making a second investment in healthcare IT, a core sub-sector for HgCapital."

Jonathan de Pass, Founder and Chairman of Evaluate, said:

"The HgCapital team impressed us with their deep understanding of our market and business. The management team and I are delighted to be partnering with HgCapital to realise our strategy of becoming the recognised leader in commercial life sciences information and analytics."

- Ends -

For further details:

HgCapital

 
 Laura Dixon    [phone] 
 

Maitland

 
 Tom Eckersley    [phone] 
 Jamie Dunkley    [phone] 
 

About HgCapital Trust plc

HgCapital Trust plc is an investment trust whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L). The Trust is a client of HgCapital, giving investors exposure to a portfolio of high-growth private companies, through a liquid vehicle. New investments and existing portfolio companies are managed by HgCapital, an experienced and well-resourced private equity firm with a long-term track record of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapitaltrust.com

Neither the contents of HgCapital Trust's, HgCapital's, or Evaluate's websites nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the websites (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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November 08, 2016 02:10 ET (07:10 GMT)