Searchlight to acquire Gresham House in £469.8m deal

US Investment firm Searchlight Capital has agreed a £469.8 million deal to acquire Gresham House, the UK asset manager which has a portfolio that includes utility-scale energy storage systems.

Under the terms of the acquisition, which will effected by means of a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act, each Gresham House Shareholder will be receive £11.05 in cash, representing a 63% premium to the closing price of the company’s shares last Friday (14 July).

Gresham House is an alternative asset management group which manages around £8 billion, and focuses on sustainable investments across a range of sectors including renewable energy and battery storage, forestry, housing and sustainable infrastructure.

Anthony Townsend, chairman of Gresham House, said: “Since the management buy-in in 2014, Gresham House has been transformed into a leading specialist alternative asset manager. Today’s offer delivers shareholders a 4x return over this period. The Gresham House Board believes that it represents a compelling opportunity in the current challenging economic environment for shareholders to realise, with certainty, Gresham House’s potential for long-term future value creation.

“The acquisition by Searchlight starts a new and exciting chapter for Gresham House. We are confident that Searchlight will accelerate our international and domestic growth strategy and their long-term capital and global expertise will support and enhance our investment teams’ ability to deliver returns to clients”.

James Redmayne, partner at Searchlight Capital Partners UK, LLP, said: “We are excited to invest in Gresham House and partner with Tony Dalwood and his highly talented management team. Their achievements in building Gresham House over the past eight years to its position as a leading Natural Capital and Sustainability focused asset manager have been hugely impressive”.

Giles Marshall, partner at Searchlight Capital Partners UK, LLP, added: “We very much look forward to supporting the team in the coming years, both through capital to help drive their organic and inorganic growth plans, as well as providing access to Searchlight’s extensive international network”.

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