Foresight Group raises £180M in fundraising, expands Dublin office and achieves strong fund performance

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Foresight Group Holdings Limited (LON:FSG), a leading infrastructure and private equity investment manager, today provides an update on year-to-date institutional private equity and retail venture capital trust fundraising.

Regional Private Equity

The AIB Foresight SME Impact Fund will receive further funding from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. The Fund, which reached first close with a cornerstone commitment from Allied Irish Banks in 2022, supports small and medium sized companies across Ireland to fund growth, to adopt sustainable best practices and advance Ireland’s transition to a green economy. ISIF is providing a €25 million commitment as part of its €1 billion 5-year climate investment programme. This will see Foresight further expand its Dublin office and broader activity across Ireland.

VCTs

Foresight has seen strong demand for the offers for subscription of Foresight VCT Plc and Foresight Enterprise VCT Plc, with both recently announced as oversubscribed¹. While the £55 million² total raised across both funds is comparable with the prior year, the funds have reached capacity far earlier this financial year. This reflects positively on the Group’s specialist in-house retail sales team and the strong recent performance of both funds having delivered top three positions³ when compared with peers on a one year share price total return basis.

These developments strengthen Foresight’s position as a leading UK and Ireland regional SME investor, taking the division’s total fundraising to over £180 million in the financial year-to-date. Funds raised include the previously announced first closes for two new regional funds serving Wales (£50 million) and Northern Ireland (£10 million), over £50 million of top up investments into existing regional funds and close to £70 million into VCT and EIS funds.

Bernard Fairman, Executive Chairman of Foresight Group Holdings Limited, commented:

“Foresight continues to deliver consistent fundraising into higher margin vehicles, underpinned by strong fund performance and the strength of our in-house sales team. In combination with our institutional infrastructure fundraising ambitions, we remain confident that the Group will continue its track record of profitable growth.”

Notes:

1. On the basis of the applications now received and assuming that they are all accepted.

2. Total comprises Foresight VCT Plc’s offer for subscription of up to £20 million with an over-allotment facility for a further £5 million and Foresight Enterprise VCT Plc’s offer for subscription of up to £20 million with an over-allotment facility for a further £10 million.

3. Source: www.theaic.co.uk, with data as at 30 January 2024.