Mercia Asset Management PLC New direct investment into Sense Biodetection

TIDMMERC

Mercia Asset Management PLC

30 October 2020

 
 Reach              30 October 2020 
 

Mercia Asset Management PLC

("Mercia", the "Company" or the "Group")

New direct investment into Sense Biodetection Limited

Mercia Asset Management PLC (AIM: MERC), the proactive, regionally focused specialist asset manager with c.GBP800million of assets under management, is pleased to announce that it has completed a GBP0.9million new direct investment into Sense Biodetection Limited ("Sense"). Mercia first invested in Sense through its third-party managed EIS funds in 2016.

With operations in both Oxford and Cambridge, Sense is focused on the development of rapid, instrument-free, point-of-care molecular diagnostics testing for a range of bacterial and viral infections. In March 2020, Sense announced an accelerated programme to launch a diagnostic test for COVID-19.

Mercia's direct investment is part of a syndicated funding round with other investors including KDT Sense Holdings LLC, Cambridge Innovation Capital (Jersey) Limited, Earlybird Health GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG, and private investors including Abcam founder Jonathan Milner. The total size of the funding round is up to $50million.

Following its investment of GBP0.9million, Mercia holds a 1.2% fully diluted direct equity stake in Sense, with its third-party managed funds' holding being 9.1%.

Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia, commented:

"We have been tracking Sense through our third-party managed funds and are delighted to now be making our first direct investment as part of this material scale-up funding commitment, alongside such a strong group of investors. Mercia has considerable expertise in Life Sciences and this investment adds another exciting business from the sector into our direct investment portfolio. With the very recent receipt of GBP1.0million from the sale of Clear Review Limited, this investment clearly demonstrates our ability to 'evergreen' Mercia's balance sheet, by re-investing realisation proceeds into both new and existing portfolio companies."

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

 
   Mercia Asset Management PLC 
    Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer 
    Martin Glanfield, Chief Financial Officer        [phone] 
    www.mercia.co.uk                                           1430 
   Canaccord Genuity Limited (NOMAD and Joint        [phone] 
    Broker)                                                    8000 
   Simon Bridges, Emma Gabriel, Richard Andrews 
 
   N+1 Singer (Joint Broker) 
                                                     [phone] 
   Harry Gooden, James Moat                                    3000 
 
                                                     [phone] 
   FTI Consulting                                              1051 
   Tom Blackwell, Louisa Feltes, Shiv Talwar 
   [e-mail] 
 

About Mercia Asset Management PLC:

Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional SMEs to achieve their growth aspirations. Mercia provides capital across its four asset classes of balance sheet, venture, private equity and debt capital: the Group's 'Complete Connected Capital'. The Group initially nurtures businesses via its third-party funds under management, then over time Mercia can provide further funding to the most promising companies, by deploying direct investment follow-on capital from its own balance sheet.

The Group has a strong UK footprint through its regional offices, 19 university partnerships and extensive personal networks, providing it with access to high-quality deal flow. Mercia currently has c.GBP800million of assets under management and, since its IPO in December 2014, has invested over GBP96million into its direct investment portfolio.

Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the EPIC "MERC".

This information is provided by Reach, the non-regulatory press release distribution service of RNS, part of the London Stock Exchange. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

END

NRAGRBDGUBXDGGG

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 30, 2020 03:30 ET (07:30 GMT)