Braveheart in £2.45m swoop for corporate finance adviser Envestors

BRAVEHEART Investment Group has acquired corporate finance advisory firm Envestors of England in a deal worth up to £2.45 million.

The purchase will to an extent bring Braveheart back to its roots, when it was established in Perth in 1997 as an informal investment syndicate. Since then, it has evolved into an investment management company, with a heavy emphasis on building custom portfolios and funds for high net worth individuals.

Geoffrey Thomson, chief executive of Braveheart, said acquiring Envestors would give his group the structure to match fledgling companies with pro-active investors capable of managing their own portfolio.

Its services will be targeted at business angels who have the requisite knowledge, experience and expertise to carry out their own due diligence and conduct the deal process themselves.

The changes will be more akin to the ethos of Braveheart in its early days, though the group will still provide its assisted portfolio building service for "light touch" investors and fully-managed funds for passive investors.

"What this means is that there is a third string to our bow, if you like," Thomson said. "It broadens the offering to the high net worth community."

Established in 2004, Envestors specialises in helping young companies raise funds from business angels or early-stage venture funds. During the past three years, it has helped more than 60 companies raise in excess of 22m.

The deal will be paid for through the issue of six tranches of Braveheart shares during the next five years. The shares will be issued at a value of 33.87p, with the maximum sum paid dependant upon the turnover generated by Envestors.

The deal will further extend Braveheart's geographic reach, as Envestors operates business angel networks in London, the Home Counties, Jersey and elsewhere in the Channel Islands. It also has franchises in Dubai and Manchester.

During the year to 31 March, Envestors generated turnover of 495,346, with profit available for division among members of 254,006. Envestors' four partners and two members of staff will be retained, as will the Envestors name.

"It is a very good brand," Thomson said. Envestors currently has a database of roughly 700 private investors, family offices and entrepreneurs. Thomson said this would effectively double Braveheart's audience of high net worth individuals.

Subject to approval from the Financial Services Authority, the deal will be Braveheart's third acquisition since its listing on AIM in March 2007.

Thomson said: "In our annual report, I noted our ongoing strategy is to continue to build shareholder value by way of portfolio development and growth of our investment management business - this acquisition demonstrably scales our investment management business."

Braveheart currently has about 45 firms in its investment portfolio. Its shares were unchanged yesterday at 23.5p.