Venture & Growth Capital

Clients and work in this area include:

• Acted for Octopus Private Equity on their further investments in Sweet Cred and Bruce Dunlop Associates.
  
• Acting for SureCalm Holdings Limited on a newly formed vehicle backed with equity from Apposite Healthcare Fund, on three simultaneous acquisitions of companies in the stoma care market
  
• Acted for Downing Corporate Finance on the establishment of four Enterprise Initiative Scheme (EIS) Funds.
  
• Acted for Future Electric Holdings on the establishment of a new fund to acquire and develop a portfolio of wind energy projects.
  
• Acting for the shareholders of VC backed Resorthoppa Group, an online travel business and leading provider of low-cost shuttle and private transfers world-wide, on the sale of the entire issued share capital to Lowcosttravelgroup.
  
• Advised Rapid Realisations Fund on a number of pre-IPO investments, including its investment in Deep Blue Restaurants.
  
• Advised Climate Change Capital’s Ventus Funds on their investment in a scheme to generate electricity form a landfill site in Belfast.  The Ventus Funds invested nearly £2m to fund the project which will involve purchasing generators to convert the gas into electricity.  The scheme will cost over £4m in total. We also advised on further fund raisings. Ventus VCT was Investment Week’s "VCT of the year" and the Quoted Company Awards "Specialist Investment Vehicle of the Year" in 2009.
  
• Acted for Eclipse VCT, Electra Kingsway VCT, Matrix Income & Growth VCT, Proven Growth & Income VCT and Octopus Nominees Limited on leaving Gyro International, Europe’s largest b2b marketing agency, in a deal worth in excess of £50m.
  
• Advised Closed Loop London Limited on the funding of its world-class plastics recycling plant. Equity funders led by Foresight Venture Partners invested £4.6m in Closed Loop London’s plant, which is the first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling plant in the UK to produce material suitable for food packaging.
  
• Acting for Albion Ventures, one of the UK's leading venture capital investors, with seven VCT funds and over £200 million under management, on various deals including:
  
  • an £8m investment in Geronimo Inns to enable the company to acquire four landmark freehold pubs in London from Punch Taverns plc. Geronimo was voted The Publican, Best Pub Company of the Year 2009;
  • a re-organisation and consolidation of the management of its 34 pub investments by Bravewood Pub Management, as part of a buy and build strategy;
  • an investment alongside Oxford Capital Partners and new client Succès Europe in Helveta, a company which provides real-time, electronic traceability and verification for the timber industry;
  • a further investment in Mi-Pay Limited, a company which has developed a payments platform for the mobile industry and won the IAMTN award for "Most Innovative Company in Money Transfers" in June 2009;
  • a further investment with Foursome Fourvision Fund LLP in Xceleron, a company involved in pioneering the use of analysis techniques used in the drug treatment process;
  • investment in Opta Sports Data, Europe's leading compiler of sports performance data with offices in England, Germany and Italy; and
  • in relation to its development capital investment in Prime Care Community Services, a domiciliary care agency based in East Sussex
    
• Advised Albion Ventures, NBG Technology and Scottish Enterprise on their investment in Forth Photonics, a medical device company developing detection equipment.