FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28
February 2024
Pollen Street Group Limited Q4 Trading
Update
Pollen Street Group Limited ("Pollen
Street" or the "Group") today issues its trading update for the
quarter ended 31 December 2023.
Highlights
· Fundraising is progressing well across Private Equity and
Private Credit.
o Fundraising for the Private Equity strategy has been strong
having secured commitments in excess of £1.3 billion since 30 June
2023 across the Continuation Vehicle and Fund V
o We are
approaching first close for Private Credit fund IV ahead of plan
and have recently closed a £225 million separately managed
account ("SMA") under the Credit Strategy to support strong
momentum in AuM throughout 2024
· Deployment is also strong with Fee-Paying AuM closing the
period at £3.4 billion, up 36 per cent from £2.5 billion as at 31
December 2022
· The
Investment Company returns remain robust with stable credit
performance and rising yields
Asset Manager
The Private Equity and Private
Credit strategies are performing well. Private Equity fundraising
is progressing well with commitments of approximately half the
target secured, and we remain confident in reaching the full €1
billion. In Private Credit, we have recently closed a £225 million
SMA and expect to hold the first close of Private Credit fund IV in
the first half of 2024, giving clear line of sight to Credit AuM
growth across 2024. The AuM on an investor commitment basis as at
31 December 2023 was £4.2 billion, up 24 per cent from £3.4 billion
as at 31 December 2022. We expect this momentum to continue. We are
also seeing attractive deployment opportunities across both
strategies, bringing Fee-Paying AuM to £3.4 billion as at 31
December 2023, which results in Average Fee-Paying AuM of £2.9
billion for the year.
Investment Company
The Return on Net Investment Assets
was consistent for Q4 resulting in 8.8 per cent return for
2023. The return was driven by a strong risk-adjusted yield
of 11.3 per cent in 2023, up from 9.4 per cent in 2022, an increase
of 2 per cent, reflecting the re-pricing of facilities into the
higher interest rate environment.
We have committed over £120 million
of the Investment Company's balance sheet into Pollen Street
managed funds to support the fundraising efforts of the Asset
Manager. We have also created capacity for a commitment into the
first close of Private Credit fund IV. This has resulted in Net
Debt to Tangible Equity reducing to 54 per cent as at 31 December
2023 compared to 69 per cent as at 31 December 2022.
Performance remains strong,
benefitting from the senior secured strategy, even amidst a
changing macroeconomic environment. The portfolio remains well
positioned with a good pipeline of opportunities.
About Pollen Street Group Limited
Pollen Street is an alternative
asset manager dedicated to investing with the financial and
business services sectors across both Private Equity and Private
Credit strategies. The business was founded in 2013 and has
consistently delivered top tier returns alongside growing
AuM.
Pollen Street benefits from a
complementary set of asset management activities focused on
managing third-party AuM (the "Asset Manager") and on-balance sheet
investments (the "Investment Company").
The Asset Manager raises capital
from top tier investors and deploys it into its Private Equity and
Private Credit strategies. The strong recurring revenues from this
business enable delivery of scalable growth.
The Investment Company invests in
the strategies of the Group delivering attractive risk adjusted
returns. Today the portfolio is a well-diversified pool of
primarily senior asset-backed credit assets generating strong
returns at conservative loan to value ratios ("LTVs"). The
portfolio consists of both direct investments and investments in
funds managed by Pollen Street.
POLN is listed on the London Stock
Exchange (ticker symbol: POLN). Further details are available
at www.pollenstreetgroup.com.
For further information about this
announcement please contact:
Barclays Bank plc - Joint Broker
Neal West / Stuart Muress
+44 (0)20 7623 2323
Investec Bank plc - Joint Broker
Bruce Garrow / Ben
Griffiths
+44 (0)20 7597 4000
FGS
Global
Chris Sibbald
Chris.Sibbald@fgsglobal.com
Link Company Matters Limited - Corporate
Secretary
polncosec@linkgroup.co.uk
ENDS