Chrysalis Investments is eyeing another placing programme to chase up over £1bn of investment opportunities in the coming months.
A RNS filing on Wednesday revealed the £770m trust is seeking shareholder approval to issue up to 600 million ordinary and/or C shares at an extraordinary general meeting held after its AGM on 8 March.
The board said managers Richard Watts (pictured) and Nick Williamson had a “strong pipeline of investment opportunities” totalling £1bn and had also identified around £250m of follow-on opportunities that may be available over the coming months.
“Accordingly, the board believes that seeking approval of the new placing programme to enable the company to raise further capital will put it in a strong position to take advantage of the compelling pipeline and available follow-on opportunities.”
The trust, which has recently been rebranded from Merian Chrysalis following the fund group’s acquisition by Jupiter, put a placing programme in place when it listed on the London Stock Exchange in November 2018.
Though it only raised half the £200m it was targeting at launch, it has seen several oversubscribed placings since, raising £175m in September 2019.
Last October it raised an additional £95m, again smashing its initial £50m target, for a mystery target investment, which it later revealed was branding business You & Mr Jones.
In an analyst note published earlier this month Liberum upgraded its target price to 230p, predicting additional upside to NAV from “further liquidity events”.
Chrysalis Investments’ 42% NAV growth in 2020 was the highest in its Growth Capital peer group, investment fund analyst Conor Finn noted, and was driven by several liquidity events including The Hut Group’s IPO in September which resulted in 109% fair valuation uplift.
Finn said several of the trust’s holdings could potentially float this year, including Klarna, Transferwise and platform group Embark.
“We see the potential for further events over the medium term, as many of the companies are reportedly preparing for a public offering, or a final private funding round before coming to market.”
Numis Securities has been appointed joint corporate broker alongside existing broker Liberum effective immediately on the proposed placing.
Further details about the programme will be provided in a prospectus published in March.
