OREANDA-NEWS. Draper Esprit, one of the leading venture capital investors involved in the creation, funding and development of high-growth technology businesses with an emphasis on digital technologies in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Europe, today announces its initial public offering by way of a conditional placing (the "Placing") of 14,020,547 new and 1,500,000 existing ordinary shares of 1 pence each ("Shares"), and subscription (the "Subscription") of 10,700,000 new Ordinary Shares at 300 pence per share (the "Issue Price") with institutional and other investors to raise gross proceeds of approximately GBP 79 million (of which GBP 74 million is for the Company and approximately GBP 5 million for the selling shareholders in the Placing).

Numis Securities Limited ("Numis") is acting as nominated adviser and lead bookrunner, with Goodbody Stockbrokers ("Goodbody") as joint bookrunner and ESM adviser, and Zeus Capital ("Zeus") as joint bookrunner.

Highlights

·      Based on the Issue Price, the market capitalisation of the Company on admission to trading on AIM and ESM ("Admission") will be GBP 122 million.

·      GBP 74 million (before expenses) has been conditionally raised pursuant to the Placing and Subscription. GBP 40 million will be used to pay the cash element of the consideration for the acquisition of, subject to certain existing carried interest arrangements, the Initial Portfolio; and GBP 29 million to make further primary investments and secondary investments (including in companies in the Initial Portfolio) and to provide working capital for the Group to support its growth plans.

·      On Admission, the Company will have 40,673,909 Shares in issue.

·      Admission and commencement of dealings in the Shares under the tickers GROW (AIM) and GRW (ESM) are expected to take place at 8:00 a.m. on 15 June 2016.

·      The Company's AIM ISIN is GB00BY7QYJ50 and its AIM and ESM SEDOL are BY7QYJ5 and BYZY4T1 respectively.

Simon Cook, CEO and Co-Founder of Draper Esprit, said:

"Our motivation for evolving our Venture Capital business model was twofold. Firstly, we wanted to be able to invest for longer in our emerging companies and to be able to build bigger stakes as companies remain private for longer periods, capturing more value for shareholders. Secondly, we wanted to further democratise funding for entrepreneurs.

Traditionally the Limited Partnership model in Europe has restricted who can invest in venture capital backed companies and many growing technology companies are not accessible to institutions or public investors until they go public. Now everyone can participate in the growth of VC backed companies from their earliest stages through series A and B to their success in the later stages up to and including their IPO.

This permanent capital model is ideally suited to a listed vehicle and we are grateful for the support this approach has received from shareholders including: Woodford Investment Management, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, China Huarong Asset Management, Baillie Gifford and several other city institutions, successful entrepreneurs and family offices, many of whom have active later stage and IPO investment activities."

The Company will also today publish its admission document which will be available, free of charge, during normal business hours on any weekday (except Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays), at the registered office of the Company at 4 More London Riverside, London SE1 2AU and at the registered office of Goodbody Stockbrokers at Ballsbridge Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 from today until one month from the date of Admission and also for download on the Group's website from the date of Admission.

Capitalised terms used in the admission document shall, unless the context provides otherwise, have the same meanings as in this announcement.