Encouraging start for Intermediate Cap

Mezzanine finance specialist Intermediate Capital said almost two thirds of its portfolio is performing at or above last year's levels."At our most recent quarterly portfolio review (QPR) in June, 64% of our investment portfolio companies were performing at or above the prior year level, up from 59% in the March QPR," the company said.Realisations have continued to be strong since the end of the company's financial year in March. At the end of June, the company's mezzanine investment in Taiwan Broadband Communications was repaid as the company refinanced on improved terms having grown both its revenue and profits.During the first quarter of the new financial year the company invested about £10m to support the further growth of two companies in its portfolio.At the end of June undrawn debt facilities stood at £780m. Together with third party funds the company has an investment capacity of more than €2bn, which the company regards as a key competitive advantage in the current market.The company remains on track to deploy between £150m to £200n in the current financial year, though management remain mindful of the fragile nature of the economic recovery.On the fund management side, both the mezzanine and credit funds have benefited from an improvement in the operational performance of their underlying portfolio companies."Our credit funds, which include senior loans and high yield bonds, experienced no defaults during the quarter thereby resulting in a further reduction in our 12 month cumulative default rate of 3.6%, compared to 4.5% at year end," the company said.