Salica Investments Special Opportunities Fund I

The Fund Manager

Salica Investments (formerly Hambro Perks) is an international investment firm focused on private technology investments. It partners with founders and entrepreneurs to support technology-enabled businesses at all stages of their growth.

Background to the opportunity

In January 2021, the manager completed the acquisition of an unquoted portfolio of 16 life sciences and technology investments which Invesco had committed to divest of by 31 December 2020. The combined underlying enterprise value of these was c£1.2bn based on Invesco’s NAV and, as such, the portfolio comprises business with significant value, revenues, and commercial traction.

Invesco was a motivated seller of the portfolio and therefore the assets were able to be acquired at an opportunistic and significant discount to net asset value.

Investment rationale

This was a fully visible, diversified portfolio of sixteen private stakes in Series A to pre-IPO, US and UK high growth tech and biotech companies. In addition to several of the larger investments, which have potential portfolio out-performers, seven of the portfolio companies were acquired
for zero cost.

The portfolio companies

The portfolio includes Gelesis, a biopharmaceutical company that produces a US FDA-approved anti-obesity drug; First Light Fusion, a company that is developing safe, efficient nuclear fusion energy; Nexeon, an innovative battery technology business; and Vedanta, developers of immunotherapies for cancer treatment.