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Augmentum Fintech fundraise hits £55m target

Augmentum Fintech (AUGM) has announced the results of its fundraising, which hit its expanded £55m target (originally the capital raise was going to target £40m but, reflecting strong interest and the strength of the company’s pipeline was subsequently extended to £55m). The raise has achieved gross proceeds of £55 million through the issue of 40,590,406 ordinary shares of £0.01 each at an issue price of 135.5p per share. The capital raise, which was conducted via a placing, open offer, offer for subscription and intermediaries offer was nonetheless oversubscribed with demand significantly exceeding both the target issue size and the maximum issue size, and so a scaling back exercise has been undertaken.

Comments from Neil England, Chairman of Augmentum Fintech

“Augmentum remains unique as the UK’s only listed specialist fintech investment trust. This is our third successful raise since our IPO in March 2018, and the Board and I are pleased that the demand for the Initial Issue has significantly exceed both our original target of £40 million and the maximum size of £55 million. I would like to thank our existing shareholders for their support and welcome the many new investors that have participated in this fundraise.”

Comments from Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech Management Limited

“The success of this fundraise reflects increasing awareness amongst investors of the growing opportunity presented by fintech, not just in the UK but across Europe. This is especially the case given the step change seen in digital adoption as a result of the disruption caused by Covid which has benefited many of our portfolio companies, and which is a trend that looks set to continue. We look forward to supporting our current portfolio and capitalising on our qualified pipeline of new investment opportunities.”

[QD comment: This is a good result for Augmentum Fintech that will no doubt please its board and manager. At the moment, its investment proposition as a pure play exposure to fintech remains unique, although a more diversified exposure can also be obtained through Polar Capital Global Financials (PCFT), which has also recently completed a successful fundraising, albeit in the form of a c-share. Both are trading at a premium as I type (although AUGM is markedly more expensive than PCFT) so I wouldn’t be surprised to see either come back to the market for more once the proceeds of their recent fundraises have been deployed.]

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