Follow-On Investment into Existing Royalty Partner

RNS Number : 3564Q

Duke Royalty Limited

27 October 2021

 

27 October 2021

Duke Royalty Limited

("Duke Royalty", "Duke" or the "Company")

£4.2 million Follow-On Investment into Existing Royalty Partner

Duke Royalty (AIM:DUKE), a provider of alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and abroad, is pleased to announce that it has conditionally agreed a follow-on investment of approximately £4.2 million ("the Financing") into its existing royalty partner, Bakhchysarai (Ireland) Limited ("BIL"), to fund its latest acquisition.

BIL is the investment holding company created to execute a buy and build strategy of synergistic companies within the Irish/UK recruitment sector. Its current holdings include Brightwater Selection (Ireland) Limited ("Brightwater") and PharmEng Limited ("PE Global").

Duke's new capital will provide financing for BIL's third acquisition, Vantage Resources Limited ("Vantage"), an IT contracting and talent acquisition business that sources specialist IT professionals on medium to long term contracts to a range of major Irish organisations.

Highlights:

·   Duke's latest investment in BIL would increase its total exposure to approximately £13.6 million (€16.0m)

· Initial cash yield of 13.5% per annum on the new investment via monthly payments, which commence immediately following the provision of the funds by Duke, expected in Q4 2021

· Vantage was incorporated in 2000 and has a longstanding history of profitable operations

· The addition of Vantage increases BIL's sector and end-customer diversification

· The investment remains subject to approval from The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which is the competition regulator responsible for enforcing Irish and European competition law in the Republic of Ireland. Once the expected approvals are granted, currently anticipated in Q4 2021, the Duke funding will complete

· Duke retains its 30% equity interest in BIL

Neil Johnson, CEO of Duke Royalty, said:

"We are delighted that BIL has acquired Vantage, which is expected to improve  profitability and add diversification to the business. Vantage has a longstanding and impressive blue chip client base, which speaks to the quality of its service offering.

"A core part of Duke's investment mandate is to provide existing royalty partners with the capital to undertake complementary M&A transactions due to its ability to increase our monthly distributions from trusted partners. Duke continues to enjoy a successful partnership with BIL, supporting its buy and build strategy, and we look forward to continuing our close work."

Further information regarding Vantage

Vantage Resources Limited is an IT contracting and talent acquisition business that primarily sources specialist IT professionals on medium to long term contracts to clients. The company's service offerings include IT Contracting, Testing, Quality Assurance (QA) and Project management with a particular focus on clients in the Government, Financial Services and ICT segments.

Vantage has a longstanding client base with many of Ireland's top 100 companies relying on it to source, acquire and retain professional IT talent.

About the Financing

BIL became a royalty partner via Duke's acquisition of UK-based royalty finance provider, Capital Step Holdings Limited, in February 2019. Subsequently, as part of the PE Global acquisition completed in January 2020, the entire BIL investment was refinanced in line with Duke's typical investment terms. This further conditional financing of £4.2 million is expected to be implemented via an addendum to the existing agreement between Duke and  BIL, with the increased investment effected through a combination of a secured loan and preference shares.

In line with Duke's other investments, and reflective of the participating nature of the Duke investment, the regular distribution payments owed to Duke by BIL will be adjusted annually based on the percentage change in total combined Net Fee Income of BIL compared to its prior financial (calendar) year. The annual adjustment in the distribution will be subject to an agreed collar, in line with Duke's typical terms.

Since no additional equity is being raised as a part of the Financing, Duke retains its 30% equity interest in BIL.

Duke Royalty Portfolio

A full list of Duke's current Royalty Partners are now included for reference on the Partners page of our website: www.dukeroyalty.com/partners .

This announcement contains inside information.

***ENDS***

For further information, please visit www.dukeroyalty.com   or contact:

Duke Royalty Limited	Neil Johnson / Charlie Cannon Brookes / Hugo Evans	[phone]
Cenkos Securities plc  (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	Stephen Keys / Callum Davidson / Julian Morse / Michael Johnson	[phone]
Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker)	Adam James / Georgina McCooke	[phone]
SEC Newgate (PR)	Elisabeth Cowell/ Richard Bicknell/ Megan Kovach	+ [phone] [e-mail]

About Duke Royalty

Duke Royalty Limited provides alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and abroad. Duke Royalty's experienced team provide financing solutions to private companies that are in need of capital but whose owners wish to maintain equity control of their business. Duke Royalty's royalty investments are intended to provide robust, stable, long term returns to its shareholders. Duke Royalty is listed on the AIM market under the ticker DUKE and is headquartered in Guernsey.

 

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