Investment into Cera

RNS Number : 6544V

Schroder British Opportunities Tst.

16 April 2021

 

Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc

Investment into Cera

Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc ("SBO" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has made an investment into Cera Care Limited ("Cera") as part of a new funding round to support its growth plans. Cera is a technology-enabled home care provider founded and based in the UK. SBO's investment was led by Evolve HealthCare Partners ("Evolve"), a pan-European healthcare focused private equity firm. SBO and Evolve co-invested alongside the existing institutional shareholders.

Cera is a technology-enabled healthcare company which has grown rapidly to become one of the largest home care providers in the United Kingdom, as well as one of fastest-growing HealthTech businesses in Europe. Launched in November 2016, Cera has close to 6,000 staff across more than 70 offices in England, Scotland and Wales, and delivers 30,000+ care visits every day.

Cera has pioneered digital services, data analytics technologies and artificial intelligence to improve elderly care, empowering users to live longer, healthier and better lives at home. More than 85% of carers using Cera's technology believe it enables them to deliver a safer and more effective service, whilst over 90% of Cera's users rate their care as 'Outstanding' or 'Good'. In addition, Cera's recruitment platform 'Join Social Care' is working to tackle joblessness in the UK by aiming to recruit 100,000 new carers across the UK. The platform has already recruited tens of thousands of new candidates on behalf of more than 2,500 care providers.

The new financing will be used to advance Cera's technology platform, as well as further scale its service platform through the acquisition of small- and mid-sized home care service providers in the UK.

This investment is in line with SBO's focus on backing high-quality, high growth UK businesses, with opportunities for multi-dimensional business transformation and a strong alignment between shareholder value and fundamental positive purpose in society.

With its strong ESG focus, the Company intends that the activities of each of the investee companies in its portfolio will be consistent with the achievement of at least one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs") or Sub-Goals. The investment in Cera is in line with SDG 3 "Good health and well-being" and SDG 8 "Decent Work and Economic Growth".

Tim Creed, Head of UK and European Private Equity at Schroders, commented: "We're at the watershed of a major shift in healthcare, as innovation and technology change the way in which traditional services are delivered - with Cera very much at the forefront of this change. We're hugely excited to be investing in a business with such immense growth potential, and at the same time, an incredibly important social mission."

Enquiries:

Schroder Investment Management Limited Benjamin Hanley	020 7658 3847
Peel Hunt Liz Yong, Luke Simpson, Tom Pocock (Investment Banking) Alex Howe, Chris Bunstead, Ed Welsby, Richard Harris (Sales)	020 7418 8900

About Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc

Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc has been established to invest in a diversified portfolio of both public equity investments and private equity investments consisting predominantly of UK Companies with strong long-term growth prospects.

ESG company engagement is a key feature of the Company's investment strategy. The Company's focus is on companies with business models which are considered to be sustainable in terms of both the longevity and durability of their businesses and their environmental, social and governance (ESG) behaviours.

The Company's ordinary shares are listed on the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and were admitted to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange in December 2020 under the ticker "SBO".

Further information on the Company is available at  www.schroders.com/sbo  

 

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