Enterprise Ventures acquired by Mercia Technologies for £11m

Enterprise Ventures, the Preston-based funding provider, has been acquired by Mercia Technologies in a deal worth £11m.

The deal has an initial value of £9m, made up of £8.3m cash and £700,000 in shares, with up to £2m more to be issued in Mercia shares as they bid to become a leading technology investment firm.

In total Enterprise Ventures completed 132 deals during 2015, with an average deal value of £132,000. The company, which provides loans and venture capital for SMEs, also has offices in Manchester and Liverpool and manages funds including The North West Fund for Venture Capital, Lancashire’s Rosebud Finance and the EV SME Loans Fund.

Enterprise Ventures, which has a current portfolio of 375 companies, mainly in the North of England, has invested more than £110m in the last five years.

Jonathan Diggines, chief executive of Enterprise Ventures, said:“It was the natural choice for Enterprise Ventures to join the Mercia team thereby creating a market-leading position in funding and developing innovative British businesses, particularly in the under-served regions of the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland.

“Mercia is already at the forefront of providing funding and support to high growth, innovative companies. In joining together, we will not only be able to offer our existing Enterprise Ventures portfolio companies access to additional expertise and follow-on capital, but we will also strengthen our combined ability to support new businesses and technologies on their journey to success.”

Mark Payton, chief executive officer of Mercia, commented:“Enterprise Ventures brings a number of strategic benefits, having built a substantial portfolio of early stage third party investments which expands Mercia’s funnel of potential future direct investments, together with a track record of supporting these investments through to successful exits.

"This combination will significantly increase our pipeline of direct investment opportunities, by more than tripling the total number of investments held within our third party funds now under management, and supporting over time the creation of significant incremental value for our shareholders.