Epiris announces further investment in PINE

POSTED 26 August 2015

Epiris is pleased to announce that it has made a further investment of £20 million in its portfolio company PINE Unit Trust ("PINE") on behalf of Electra Private Equity PLC ("Electra"). The new investment will support the acquisition of the freehold investment property of two special educational needs schools in Hampshire, UK, operated by Priory Group.

Established in 2005, PINE is a Jersey Property Unit Trust created to build a freehold investment property portfolio focussed on the UK educational sector. PINE owns a portfolio of properties across the UK, leased to third party operators, including some leased to its former subsidiary, Treetops Nurseries. Treetops was spun out of PINE as part of a refinancing in 2012. At 31 March 2015, Electra's investment in PINE was valued at £26 million.

Alex Fortescue, Chief Investment Partner at Epiris, said:

"This acquisition adds scale to the PINE portfolio and by broadening its investment scope to the whole UK educational sector, PINE will be able to add to its portfolio and increase its appeal to institutional investors."

Nigel Elsley and Tom Stenhouse are responsible for the investment in PINE.

This is the eighth acquisition Epiris has announced this financial year, which include the acquisition of TGI Fridays in December 2014 and the follow-on investments in Allflex Corporation in January and Park Resorts in May.

Epiris refers to Epiris LLP acting on behalf of its client Electra Private Equity PLC.

Ends.

 

For further information please contact:
Andrew Honnor and Matthieu Roussellier, Greenbrook Communications
+44 (0)20 7952 2000

Andrew Kenny and Nicholas Board, Epiris
+44 (0)20 7306 3902

 

Note to Editors:

About Epiris LLP
Epiris is an independent private equity fund manager with over 25 years' experience in the mid-market. During the last 25 years it has invested in excess of £4.5 billion in over 200 deals. As at 31 March 2015, the firm had funds under management of over £1.6 billion including capital available for new investment of nearly £400 million.

Epiris' flexible investment strategy allows it to invest broadly across the private equity market with a particular focus on Buyouts and Co-investments, Secondaries and Debt. In addition to this, its long-term capital base means it is not constrained by expiring investment periods or exit pressure driven by fund raising cycles and is therefore able to realise investments only when returns are maximised for its investors.

The firm's major client is Electra Private Equity PLC ("Electra"), a private equity investment trust which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1976. Electra's long-term investment performance has been consistently superior to private equity and other benchmarks. Over the ten years to 31 March 2015, Electra has seen diluted NAV per share growth of 251%. This is over five times the NAV per share return of the Morningstar Private Equity Index (ex. Electra). It is also equivalent to a ten-year annualised return of 13%, at the upper end of Electra's target range of 10-15% over the long-term.

For further information please visit www.electrapartners.com

Epiris LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

About PINE Unit Trust
Established in 2005, PINE is a Jersey Property Unit Trust created to build a freehold investment property portfolio focussed on the UK nursery school sector.  Managed by Harry Hyman's Nexus Group, PINE owns a portfolio of properties across the UK, leased to third party operators, including some leased to its former subsidiary, Treetops Nurseries. Treetops was spun out of PINE as part of a refinancing in 2012 and is now controlled directly by Epiris.

For further information please visit www.thepinefund.com