PE division fundraising of over £180 million

Foresight Group Holdings Limited

01 February 2024

 

01 February 2024

Private Equity division fundraising of over £180 million

Foresight Group Holdings Limited ("Foresight", the "Group"), a leading infrastructure and private equity investment manager, today provides an update on year-to-date institutional private equity and retail venture capital trust ("VCT") fundraising.

Regional Private Equity

The AIB Foresight SME Impact Fund ("the Fund") will receive further funding from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund ("ISIF"). The Fund, which reached first close with a cornerstone commitment from Allied Irish Banks ("AIB") in 2022, supports small and medium sized companies ("SMEs") across Ireland to fund growth, to adopt sustainable best practices and advance Ireland's transition to a green economy. ISIF is providing a €25 million commitment as part of its €1 billion 5-year climate investment programme. This will see Foresight further expand its Dublin office and broader activity across Ireland.

VCTs

Foresight has seen strong demand for the offers for subscription of Foresight VCT Plc and Foresight Enterprise VCT Plc, with both recently announced as oversubscribed¹. While the £55 million² total raised across both funds is comparable with the prior year, the funds have reached capacity far earlier this financial year. This reflects positively on the Group's specialist in-house retail sales team and the strong recent performance of both funds having delivered top three positions³ when compared with peers on a one year share price total return basis.

These developments strengthen Foresight's position as a leading UK and Ireland regional SME investor, taking the division's total fundraising to over £180 million in the financial year-to-date. Funds raised include the previously announced first closes for two new regional funds serving Wales (£50 million) and Northern Ireland (£10 million), over £50 million of top up investments into existing regional funds and close to £70 million into VCT and EIS funds.

Bernard Fairman, Executive Chairman of Foresight Group Holdings Limited, commented:

"Foresight continues to deliver consistent fundraising into higher margin vehicles, underpinned by strong fund performance and the strength of our in-house sales team. In combination with our institutional infrastructure fundraising ambitions, we remain confident that the Group will continue its track record of profitable growth."

Notes:

1.     On the basis of the applications now received and assuming that they are all accepted.

2.     Total comprises Foresight VCT Plc's offer for subscription of up to £20 million with an over-allotment facility for a further £5 million and Foresight Enterprise VCT Plc's offer for subscription of up to £20 million with an over-allotment facility for a further £10 million.

3.     Source: www.theaic.co.uk, with data as at 30 January 2024.

Foresight Group Investors	H / Advisors Maitland
Liz Scorer / Ben McGrory	Sam Cartwright / Audrey Da Costa
[phone] / [phone]	[phone] / [phone]
[e-mail]	[e-mail]

About Foresight Group Holdings Limited

Foresight Group was founded in 1984 and is a leading listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager. With a long-established focus on ESG and sustainability-led strategies, it aims to provide attractive returns to its institutional and private investors from hard-to-access private markets. Foresight manages over 400 infrastructure assets with a focus on solar and onshore wind assets, bioenergy and waste, as well as renewable energy enabling projects, energy efficiency management solutions, social and core infrastructure projects and sustainable forestry assets. Its private equity team manages an extensive footprint of regionally focused investment funds across the UK and Ireland. This team reviews over 3,000 business plans each year and currently supports more than 250 investments in SMEs. Foresight Capital Management manages four strategies across seven investment vehicles.

Foresight operates in eight countries across Europe, Australia and United States with AUM of £12.4 billion*. Foresight Group Holdings Limited listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2021 and is a constituent of the FTSE250 index. https://www.foresightgroup.eu/shareholders

*Based on unaudited AUM as at 31 December 2023.

Disclaimer - Forward-looking statements

This announcement, prepared by Foresight Group Holdings Limited (the "Company"), may contain forward-looking statements about the Company. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "projects", "estimates", "plans", "anticipates", "targets", "aims", "continues", "expects", "intends", "hopes", "may", "will", "would", "could" or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which are beyond the Company's control and are based on the Company's beliefs and expectations about future events as of the date the statements are made. If the assumptions on which the Company bases its forward-looking statements change, actual results may differ from those expressed in such statements. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including those set out under "Principal Risks" in the Company's annual report for the financial year ended 31 March 2023. The annual report can be found on the Company's website (https://www.foresightgroup.eu/). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by applicable law and regulation, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast.

 

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