Statement re Intermediate Capital Group plc Int...

Embargoed until 7.00am on Wednesday 17 July 2013

 

 

Intermediate Capital Group plc (ICG) announces its Interim Management Statement for the period to 16 July 2013

Highlights

• Fundraising success continues with Longbow Fund III closing at its maximum size and a further close on Senior Debt Partners, our direct lending product  

• New third party money raised in the quarter to 30 June 2013 totals €560m, with a further €274m raised in July 

• Strong period of realisations leading to £433m of cash inflows to the Investment Company in the quarter 

• AUM decreased by 3% to €12.5bn in the quarter to 30 June 2013, due to successful realisations  

• Resilient portfolio and solid pipeline of investment opportunities 

Fund Management Company

We continued to make good progress in fundraising, raising €560m of new third party money in the quarter to 30 June 2013, in line with our expectations. This period has also seen a high level of realisations, generating strong cash inflows for the Investment Company and our Funds. As a result assets under management have decreased by 3% since the start of the financial year to €12.5bn at 30 June 2013.

Mezzanine Funds
We are delighted to have had a final close on ICG Longbow Fund III at its maximum permitted size of £700m, which includes £50 million committed by ICG.

Our mezzanine portfolio performance continues to be broadly resilient, despite the challenging economic environment.

We continue to see a solid pipeline of investment opportunities across all our mezzanine products. We closed one deal in the period with our European Fund V supporting a management led buyout of Euro Cater, a Nordic foodservice wholesaler. This takes ICG Europe Fund V to 34% invested.

Credit Funds
We are pleased that Senior Debt Partners, our direct lending strategy, has closed a further €274m in the period, including €191m of Business Finance Partnership funds which will be invested in mid-market companies across the UK. This takes the total amount raised for Senior Debt Partners to €391m and with continuing strong investor interest we remain confident of achieving our €1bn target. Elsewhere, we priced a €400m European CLO earlier this week and it is expected to close later this month. This CLO will acquire the majority of the assets from the redeemed Eurocredit Opportunities Parallel Fund.

Our credit funds continue to perform in line with, or better than, our expectations and have delivered strong returns over the last quarter despite recent market volatility. We continue to see attractive investment opportunities for our funds and believe these conditions will prevail through the coming months.

Investment Company

The Investment Company's portfolio performance remains broadly resilient despite the prolonged economic slowdown.  

After a sustained period of low realisations, the increased availability of debt has resulted in a number of portfolio companies refinancing and consequently a high level of realisations in the period. Five of our top 20 assets - Medi Partenaires, AAS Link, Elis, Hoyts and Team Systems - have been realised in full or in part during the quarter to 30 June 2013 which contributed to a total of £329m of principal repayments being received and £104m of rolled up interest being crystallised.  

Since the quarter end, our investment in BAA has been fully repaid realising £58m. In addition, we expect to complete our exit of Allflex later this week, realising a further £119m and a capital gain of £110m.

New investments totalling £58m were made during the quarter, primarily comprising the Euro Cater transaction mentioned above.

Balance Sheet Funding
The balance sheet remains well funded with available cash and unutilised bank lines of £768m at 30 June 2013.

We have continued to refinance and diversify our sources of financing in the period, raising $150m from private placements and signing £100m of new facilities to 2016, which includes a £67m rollover of an existing facility and a new relationship bank.

Analyst / Investor enquiries:

Christophe Evain, CEO, ICG    [phone]
Philip Keller, CFO, ICG    [phone]
Ian Stanlake, Investor Relations, ICG    [phone]

Media enquiries:

Neil Bennett, Tom Eckersley, Maitland    [phone]
Helen Barnes, Corporate Communications, ICG    [phone]

This Interim Management Statement has been prepared solely to provide additional information to shareholders and meets the relevant requirements of the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. The Interim Management Statement should not be relied on by any other party or for any other purpose.

This Interim Management Statement may contain forward looking statements. These statements have been made by the Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this report and should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying such forward looking information.

These written materials are not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom. The issuer has not and does not intend to register any securities under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and does not intend to offer any securities to the public in the United States.  No money, securities or other consideration from any person inside the United States is being solicited and, if sent in response to the information contained in these written materials, will not be accepted.

About ICG

Founded in 1989, ICG is a specialist asset manager providing private debt, mezzanine finance, leveraged credit and minority equity, managing over €12.5bn of assets in third party funds and proprietary capital. ICG has a large and experienced investment team operating from its head office in London with a strong local network of offices in Paris, Madrid, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Sydney, New York and Singapore. Its stock (ticker symbol: ICP) is listed on the London Stock Exchange. ICG is regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Further information is available at: www.icgplc.com.

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Source: Intermediate Capital Group plc via Thomson Reuters ONE

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