Hg agrees the sale of Foundry

RNS Number : 2217T

HgCapital Trust PLC

19 March 2019

 

HgCapital Trust plc

Hg, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("the Company"), today announces the sale of Foundry, a leading global developer of high‑end visual effects ("VFX") and 3D design software to Roper Technologies (NYSE: ROP), a leading diversified technology company.

The Company, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all Hg's investments.

Based on the 28 February 2019 reported NAV (including all transactions announced to date), following completion of this transaction the pro-forma NAV of the Trust is expected to be £798.6 million (or 2,139.6 pence per share). The Company will realise estimated cash proceeds of approximately £28.0 million. The Company's liquid resources available for future deployment (including all announced transactions) are estimated to be £144 million (18% of the pro-forma 28 February 2019 NAV). In addition, the Company has access to a £80 million standby facility, which is currently undrawn.

Note that these figures only relate to HgCapital Trust's share of Hg's overall investment in Foundry.

Hg agrees the sale of Foundry

Hg today announces the sale of Foundry, a leading global developer of high‑end visual effects ("VFX") and 3D design software to Roper Technologies (NYSE: ROP), a leading diversified technology company for £410 million in cash.

Foundry provides award-winning creative software for film post‑production visual effects with its Nuke product range and a series of complementary products. Foundry's Digital Design products offer advanced 3D modelling, visualisation and design variation capabilities to designers and artists across a broad range of industry verticals including footwear and apparel. With Athera, Foundry is the first company to offer a fully cloud-based solution for the VFX industry with software, compute, storage and rendering capabilities. Foundry enables clients like Pixar, ILM, MPC, Walt Disney Animation and Weta Digital as well as automotive, footwear, apparel and technology companies such as Mercedes, New Balance, Adidas and Googleto turn incredible ideas into reality, by solving complex creative challenges.

Foundry was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in London, with offices in Manchester and Austin. It has more than 6,000 customers in over 100 countries and employs c.300 people.

Hg invested in Foundry from the Hg7 fund in 2015, recognising the company as a leading global provider of vertical market application software, with rich intellectual property, strong positioning within its business segments and the potential to enter new market segments. Hg has worked with the company's management team to broaden Foundry's go-to-market strategy, invest in its cutting-edge product offering across Media & Entertainment and accelerate the growth of the company's Digital Design division.

Nic Humphries, Senior Partner at Hg, said: "Foundry is a business with a 20-year history of growth and innovation. Hg has built on the company's strong development capabilities to drive enterprise adoption of the Digital Design offering and pioneer revolutionary new products such as Athera. We've enjoyed working with the team over the last 4 years and wish the team well as they continue their growth journey as part of Roper Technologies."

Craig Rodgerson, CEO, Foundry said: "Hg has been a great partner to Foundry over the last few years, helping us to evolve from a number of category-leading products into a truly cloud-enabled platform positioned for growth across industry segments and geographies. We look forward to partnering with Roper Technologies to continue our ambition to be the leading provider of software to professional users in creative industries."

Foundry was advised on this transaction by Arma Partners, Skadden and Deloitte.

For further details:

Hg

Laura Dixon

[phone]

Maitland/AMO

Neil Bennett and Finlay Donaldson

[phone]

About HgCapital Trust plc

HgCapital Trust plc, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L), gives investors exposure through a liquid vehicle to a portfolio of high-growth private companies in the technology and tech-enabled sector. The selection of new investments and creation of value in these businesses are managed by Hg, an experienced and well-resourced private equity firm with a long-term track record of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapitaltrust.com

Neither the contents of HgCapital Trust, Hg or Foundry's websites nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the websites (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

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