Schroders Capital Global Innovation (INOV), the former Woodford Patient Capital Trust which is being wound up, is building up funds for a second return of cash to shareholders after the sale of one of its top 10 holdings.
The Guernsey-based Salica Environmental Technology Fund (SETF), in which INOV holds a minority stake after selling Ombu, a specialist early-stage investor, to it in 2020, has announced the sale of one of its last investments, Bluewater Bio.
The disposal of the London-based water purification company to an unidentified private equity buyer should generate £6.5m and is a “significant realisation” for INOV which is re-accumulating cash after a £37m return of capital last summer.
It will add to the £7.7m made from the sale of Securiti AI in October with both sums going into a pot that will be paid out to shareholders later this year.
Salica Investments, the UK venture capital firm managing the fund holding Bluewater, changed its name from Hambro Perks in 2024 following the departure of former chief executive Dominic Perks and the earlier death of co-founder Rupert Hambro. It is chaired by former M&G chief executive John Foley. The fund was previously called HP Environmental Technology and represents around 5% of INOV.
Last July Bluewater announced it was looking for a new strategic investor to support its next phase of growth. It predicted full-year profits of £6.7m on revenues of £40m, 90% of which were already contracted.
In a statement INOV’s Schroder fund managers Tim Creed and Harry Raikes congratulated Bluewater and Salica on the transaction which was in line with the fund’s valuation of Bluewater.
“The acquisition [by the private equity buyer] represents one of the final exits from SETF, generating a total multiple of invested capital from the fund of 2.8 times with the potential to increase to 2.9 times with the full impact of potential earn outs,” they said.
INOV’s 2020 annual report said the initial stake in the then HP fund had been revalued to £6.6m from £4m after the Ombu sale. The now Salica fund was valued at £7.2m, representing 4.1% of the portfolio at 30 June last year. That was down from £8.2m and 5% in December 2024.
Shareholders in INOV voted to put the investment trust into managed wind-down last February after it lost its original investors around 90% over 10 years. The company’s annual results in March will provide an update on how much money the fund has to distribute.
At 15.2p yesterday, the shares trailed on a 29% discount to their estimated net asset value of 21.4p. Should its investments continue to be sold at asset value, that valuation gap should close as the holdings are sold. Sun Capital Partners, the private equity fund of financier Hugh Osmond, is among bargain hunters who have bought in, holding 5.4%. Other shareholders are fund managers City of London (9.9%) and Momentum Global (5%).
