HgCapital Trust plc Regulatory News (HGT)

10 Feb 2009 09:00



HgCapital Trust plc

Set out below is the text of a press release issued today by HgCapital, which manages the investment portfolio of HgCapital Trust plc alongside those of other institutional clients. The Trust is a listed investment trust which provides an efficient vehicle for private investors and smaller institutions to participate in all HgCapital's investments.

HgCapital restructures sector teams to increase focus on key investment opportunities 

London, 10 February: HgCapital, the European sector focused private equity investor, is today announcing the expansion of four of its buy out teams and the closure of its consumer and leisure team and its Amsterdam office. These moves will deliver additional resources to its most successful teams led by our most successful investors, who are preparing to exploit one of the most promising markets for new investment in decades.

HgCapital refines its strategy every year to adapt to market opportunities. Its success is closely correlated to tight investment focus and it believes that larger teams will be required to unlock the best investments over the next two to three years. Running four larger teams will deliver the benefits of better deal origination & improved conversion and execution.

Since raising its last fund in June 2005, HgCapital has realised 30 investments, including 16 since the onset of the credit crunch, at an average multiple of 2.7 times cost. It is now relatively under-invested compared with its peers and remains well placed to take advantage of lower prices . (HgCapital Trust, the investment trust that the firm manages, has cash of over 50% of net assets).

In future, the firm's buy out business and its 45 professionals will be organised into four enlarged sector groups: Technology Media Telecoms; Healthcare; Services; and Industrials. The latter will principally be based out of the firm's Munich office. The Leisure and Consumer sector 

team will be closed as will our Amsterdam office. Hg which has always placed sector before geography in running its business will serve Benelux from London and Munich, replicating its success in Scandinavia. Four investment professionals will leave as a consequence of these changes.

Nic Humphries, HgCapital Chief Executive, said: "The next few years will be a good vintage  for new investments but we will have to search harder and competition will be fierce. In short, successful firms will have to do more  work to invest every cent than before. The changes we are announcing today will focus HgCapital on both its core strengths and the best opportunities so that  we continue to make our investors strong returns."

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About HgCapital

HgCapital is a private equity investor in the European mid-market. We focus on investments with an enterprise value in the range of £50-500 million. Our business model combines sector specialisation with dedicated, proactive support to our portfolio companies as well as the application of significant human resource and the corresponding management expertise across all phases of the investment process. HgCapital manages more than €2.0 billion for some of the world's leading institutional and private investors. Our goal is to achieve outstanding results for our investors, management team and intermediaries.

For further details, see www.hgcapital.com