Further to Chrysalis Investments’s (CHRY’s) announcement on 8 March 2021 that authority for a new placing programme to issue 600m ordinary and/or C shares had been approved, the company will shortly publish a prospectus containing details on the placing programme.
CHRY has raised £470m of capital from shareholders since its launch, which means that the implied revaluation performance has contributed approximately £308.2m, or roughly 39.6% of total asset growth, as at 31 December 2020.
‘Active pipeline of circa £1bn’
CHRY notes that its manager currently has an active pipeline of potential new investments totalling circa £1bn across a number of sectors including Renewable Energy, Fintech, E-commerce and SaaS. The company says it has had significant success over the last two years through follow-on investments, and continues to see significant opportunities in this regard. The manager has identified circa £250m of potential follow-on opportunities for the coming months.
Investment highlights supported by buoyant tech IPO market
CHRY reported the following investment highlights, to go along with this morning’s announcement:
“Prospective IPOs from existing portfolio
- A number of the Company’s portfolio assets are scaling aggressively, opening options around a possible IPO. As and when any further companies in the portfolio do choose to seek a public listing, the Company is well positioned as an existing investor to either participate in any pre-IPO rounds, or to look to maximise its allocation by acting in its crossover capacity as a “cornerstone” investor.
Strong market for tech-enabled names; IPO market buoyant
- One outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic has been an acceleration in the previously established trend of society moving from “offline” business models to “online” ones. Investors have recognised this dynamic, and this has led to strong demand for the shares of companies exposed to this trend, both in private and public markets, and has triggered strong valuation growth for the Company. In the last twelve months the IPO market has seen strong participation by listed market investors. In the UK, the THG IPO was significantly oversubscribed and has performed well in the aftermarket.
Developed pipeline of new investment opportunities
- The Investment Adviser currently has a pipeline of over ten companies with which it is in discussions and the aggregate total capital these businesses are looking to raise is estimated at c.£1bn.
Follow on investment opportunities
- The Investment adviser estimates the current portfolio may offer the opportunity to deploy up to c £250m over the coming months.
Opportunities afforded by increased scale
- Increasingly, the investments targeted by the Investment Adviser on behalf of the company are large, late-stage private businesses, with commensurately significant funding requirements. The ability to credibly provide that funding, over a sometimes prolonged period, is an important consideration when these targets look to select which investors to partner with.”
CHRY: Chrysalis Investments looks to grow with its active pipeline at around £1bn