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LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - British buyout fund ElectraPrivate Equity reported strong full-year returns onFriday as it prepares to cut ties with its portfolio managerEpiris.
Electra said it made a return of 35 percent in diluted netasset value (NAV) per share for the year ended Sept. 30, boostedby an investment return of 46 percent on its opening portfolio.
The firm is in the midst of trying to separate from itsinvestment management team, which renamed itself Epiris onMonday, as part of a major shake up.
The split, announced following a review in May, came afteractivist investor Edward Bramson fought a long and bittercampaign to join the listed company's board as part of a driveto overhaul one of Britain's oldest private equity firms.
Bramson had criticised Epiris for a lack of openness andsaid there was more value to be found in the firm's portfolio,which includes restaurant chain TGI Fridays in Britain.
Electra said it would review its portfolio in the secondphase of a major review but it was unlikely to be able to dothat until after June 2017, once Epiris's contract as portfoliomanager ends.
"We are eager to embark on the second stage of our review,though the timing of that is currently constrained by the termsof the outsourced management contract and will be after June2017, unless we are able to negotiate earlier access to theportfolio companies with Epiris, which currently seemsunlikely," Electra Chairman Neil Johnson said.
According to the strategy outlined in the statement, Electrahas yet to develop its own investment team.
In the year to Sept. 30, Electra invested 218 million pounds($275 million) including 137 million pounds across the buyoutand co-investments portfolio and 62 million pounds across thedebt portfolio.
Electra's shares rose 1.6 percent to 4,672 pence followingthe results release.
($1 = 0.7925 pounds) (Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva in London and Noor ZainabHussain in Bengaluru; editing by David Clarke)
