ISIS toasts success of £360m fund raise with four new Partners

Submitted by Bluebox Editor on Sat, 09/06/2012 - 08:06
ISIS recently closed its latest institutional fund, ISIS V, on £360m.  ISIS V has a globally diversified investor base with Limited Partners committing to the fund from the UK, Europe, the US and Asia. Insurance companies, fund of funds, family offices and pension funds are all represented. ISIS V will continue the strategy of its predecessor fund ISIS IV (a £238.5m 2007 vintage fund) and will invest in UK growth equity or buyout transactions of companies with enterprise values of between £20m and £75m.  Two thirds of Limited Partners in ISIS IV re-committed to the ISIS V fund.
Pete Clarke, Liz Jones, Paul Morris and Daniel Smith will join the seven existing partners who currently lead ISIS. 
Pete Clarke joined ISIS in 2002 to open up a new office in Manchester and has completed numerous investments at ISIS including Americana, Nexus, Reed & Mackay and ScriptSwitch. Prior to joining ISIS, Pete worked in management roles at Rio Tinto and Electrocomponents, before moving into private equity in 2000.
Liz Jones joined ISIS in 2001 after spending seven years in Barclays, including a four-year period in Barclays Ventures.  Most recently, Liz completed the investment in DiGiCo.   Other investments include Witherslack Group, Pathway Care, SLC Group and SLR Consulting.  
Paul Morris joined the team in 2003 after seven years at Barclays in Leveraged Finance. In April 2012 Paul led the investment in Happy Days nursery, and his deals at ISIS include Quantix, TVC, CableCom and Enotria.
Daniel Smith joined ISIS in 2003 after spending nine years at RBS in retail and corporate banking, leveraged finance and private equity. Daniel’s most recent deal is the £46m MBO of Autologic. Other deals include hurleypalmerflatt, Enigma Group, Encore Tickets, On the Beach and Travel Jigsaw.  
Wol Kolade, Managing Partner, ISIS, comments:
“I am delighted to welcome Pete, Liz, Paul and Dan to the ISIS partnership. This is an important step in broadening and deepening the leadership talent pool at ISIS, and is a key milestone in the development of our business.”
 
The news follows a very busy period of activity for ISIS. Since January 2011, ISIS has completed:
·         9 new investments; including the £3.7m investment on behalf of the Baronsmead VCTs in Day Nursery operator Happy Days in April 2012.
·         5 acquisitions on behalf of portfolio companies; including the acquisition of West End Theatre Bookings on behalf of portfolio company Encore Tickets in June 2011.
·         8 realisations following the sale of TVC in March 2012. In December 2011 the sale of internet cycling retailer Wiggle generated a multiple of 15.1x.