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(Alliance News) - Oakley Capital Investments Ltd on Wednesday said that all four of its investment sectors contributed to valuation gains over the year.
As of December 31, net asset value was at GBP1.21 billion for the investment company, which provides access to private equity investments of funds managed by Oakley Capital Ltd. This is up 3% from the GBP1.17 billion recorded in 2022.
NAV per share was 684 pence by the year-end, with total NAV return per share, including dividends, of 4%, up 27p since December 2022.
Oakley made investments of GBP175 million over the year, a decrease from GBP269 in 2022, while share of proceeds was up over the year to GBP266 million from GBP244 million.
GBP50 million worth of investments was made in new platform deals, including Thomas's London Day Schools, Liberty Dental Group Ltd and WebCentral.
Oakley spent GBP66 million on reinvestments in IU Group, Germany's largest private university group, and said it will benefit "from the next phase of the company's growth, focused on leveraging artificial intelligence and internationalisation". IU Group made one of the largest contributions to Oakley's portfolio uplift in 2023, as it expanded enrolments 33% to 125,000 students. Oakley also said that companies valuation gains were seen across across all four of its investment sectors, technology, consumer, education and business services.
The company said that the underlying companies in its portfolio "continued to trade well in an uncertain macroeconomic environment". Oakley attributes this to its strategy of investing in "asset-light business models" which promise "predictable, recurring cash flows".
Following the end of 2023, the company revealed ongoing platform deals, with up to GBP100 million worth of investments in Alerce and Steer Automotive Group. In October, Oakley agreed to acquire Alerce, a Spanish provider of transport and logistics software, for around GBP9 million. Last week, the company reached a conditional agreement to acquire Steer Automotive Group, a British business-to-business automotive services platform, for GBP90 million. Both transactions are expected to complete within the first six months of 2024.
As of December 31, Oakley's total liquidity was GBP382 million at December 31, up from GBP210 million a year prior. Outstanding commitments to the Oakley Funds were GBP1.02 billion, which the company said will be deployed into new investments over the next five years.
Oakley said it will continue its long-term commitment to share buybacks "when appropriate", and plans to release its full-year results for 2023 on March 14.
Shares in Oakley were down 0.2%% at 481.00 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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