HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust has today announced an investment into Trace One SA,a provider of software to the retail and private label goods sectors, headquartered in France. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. HgCapital Trust will invest in Trace One, alongside other institutional clients of HgCapital, who will participate through the Mercury Fund, which focuses on growth buyouts in the technology sector across Europe. The Trust will contribute a total of approximately £4.5m. The acquisition represents the eighth investment by the Mercury Fund and, following completion, the Fund will be approximately 52% invested.
Founded in 2001, Trace One offers a suite of Product Lifecycle Management software applications to the retail sector, and operates a platform allowing retailers to develop and exchange private label product specifications with their suppliers. HgCapital say that Trace One serves a blue-chip customer base of 30 leading retailers, across Europe and North America, with data on 20,000 member manufacturers, supporting more than US$300bn of private label sales.
Based on the 29 February 2016 reported NAV, the Trust says that its liquid resources available for future deployment, including all announced transactions and the proposed dividend payable in May 2016, are estimated to be £37.5m (7% of the pro-forma 29 February 2016 NAV). In addition, the Trust has access to a £40 million standby facility, which is currently undrawn. The transaction will reduce the Trust’s outstanding commitments to invest in HgCapital deals to approximately £118m (22% of the 29 February 2016 NAV).
HgCapital is investing £4.5m in Trace One : HGT