VCT News
Beringea Backs Former Portfolio Management Stars in New Venture
3 May 2007 - Beringea, the manager of the top-performing ProVen and ProVen Growth & Income VCTs, has invested in the £5.5m AIM placing by intellectual property exploitation specialists, Coolabi plc ("Coolabi"). Beringea is one of the largest shareholders in the company.
Coolabi specialises in the ownership, development, production and creative management of high quality children's and family-focused intellectual property assets and their global exploitation through licensing, merchandising and distribution. The AIM placing helped finance Coolabi's acquisition of the rights to the popular greeting cards and books character, Purple Ronnie, as well as other rights owned by the Purple Ronnie author, Giles Andreae, including top 10 selling children's books "Rumble in the Jungle" and "Giraffes Don't Dance".
The investment in Coolabi sees Beringea working with a management team that it has successfully backed in previous investments. Coolabi's CEO, Jeremy Banks, was a member of the management team at Chorion, the owner of Enid Blyton's Noddy, Mr. Men, Agatha Christie and other publishing-based rights, which resulted in a successful exit for Beringea, when Chorion was acquired by 3i in 2006. William Harris, the Chairman of Coolabi, was CEO of one of Beringea's highest profile investments, Gullane Entertainment, the owner of Thomas the Tank Engine and Guinness World Records. Beringea experienced a successful exit when Chorion was acquired by 3i in 2006.
Jeff Bocan of Beringea commented: "We are pleased to have the opportunity to once again back a management team that includes some of the best people in the business with a proven track record of maximising value from established entertainment-based intellectual property rights and who in the past have generated excellent returns for our investors."
Although ProVen VCT and ProVen Growth & Income VCT are both generalist funds, Beringea has a strong background in media and content investment and up to 25% of the VCTs' qualifying investments are made in this sector.
Bocan added: "Beringea has excelled in investing in family entertainment and publishing-based intellectual properties such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Angelina Ballerina and we believe that Coolabi will be another success story for us in this space."
About Coolabi plc
Coolabi plc ("Coolabi") specialises in the ownership, development, production and creative management of high quality children's and family intellectual property assets and their global exploitation through licensing and merchandising and distribution. The group owns or controls the intellectual property rights to international brands including Purple Ronnie, King Arthur's Disasters, as well as selected rights to properties such as the Hammer House of Horror.
About Beringea
Beringea is an international venture capital firm with offices in London and Detroit. In the UK Beringea manages ProVen VCT, ProVen Health VCT, ProVen Growth & Income VCT and Global Rights Fund II. Beringea launched its first VCT in 1996, making it one of the most experienced VCT managers in the UK. ProVen Growth & Income and ProVen VCT are highest performing VCTs of their launch years, respectively, according to www.taxefficientreview.com. For more information please visit www.provenvcts.co.uk.