Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc
Investment into CFC
Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc ("SBO" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has made an investment into CFC, a leading technology-driven global insurance business. The investment has been made via VIP SIV I LP, a fund managed by Vitruvian Partners. CFC is a specialist insurance provider, pioneer in emerging risk and market leader in cyber, serving more than 100,000 businesses in over 90 countries.
Founded in 1999, CFC was one of the pioneers in the cyber insurance market. Today, it is a technology-driven business that has established itself as a global leader in cyber and provider of cover for a diverse range of emerging risks that sit at the intersection of technology and business. CFC writes 50 products across 20 different classes of specialist insurance focused primarily on SME businesses.
This investment is in line with SBO's focus on backing high-quality, high growth businesses, with opportunities for significant further expansion and a strong alignment between shareholder value and fundamental positive purpose in society. The investment is consistent with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal ("SDG") 8 "Decent Work and Economic Growth", specifically target 8.10 "Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all" with its focus on a range of emerging risk categories.
Tim Creed, Head of Private Equity at Schroders, commented: "We are delighted to announce SBO's eighth private equity investment. CFC is a high quality business with an outstanding reputation that we have known for several years through our relationship with Vitruvian. CFC's focus on supporting its customers in emerging risk areas, while pioneering technology to enable it to deliver at increasing scale, has underpinned an envious track record of growth and profitability that places it in the upper echelons of insurance companies globally".
The Company's latest investment in CFC, following on from the investment in Mintec announced yesterday, increases the private equity share to close to 50%. This deployment rate is in line with the schedule we announced at the time of the IPO. One further private equity investment is anticipated and will be announced in due course.
Enquiries:
Schroder Investment Management Limited Paula Lockwood (Company Secretarial) Estelle Bibby (PR)
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020 7658 6000
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Peel Hunt
Alex Howe, Chris Bunstead, Ed Welsby, Richard Harris (Sales)
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020 7418 8900 |
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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 have been 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 .
About CFC
CFC is a specialist insurance provider, pioneer in emerging risk and market leader in cyber. Our global insurance platform uses cutting-edge technology and data science to deliver smarter, faster underwriting and protect customers from today's most critical business risks. Headquartered in London with offices in New York, Austin, Brussels and Brisbane, CFC has over 500 staff and is trusted by more than 100,000 businesses in 90 countries.
More info: www.cfcunderwriting.com .
About Vitruvian
Vitruvian is an independent growth capital firm headquartered in London with offices across London, Stockholm, Munich, Luxembourg, San Francisco, and Shanghai. Vitruvian focuses on dynamic situations characterized by rapid growth and change across industries spanning information technology, financial services, life sciences & healthcare, media, and business and consumer services. Vitruvian Funds have backed over 45 companies and have assets under management of approximately €10 billion.
More info: https://www.vitruvianpartners.com/