An investment vehicle founded by one of Britain’s biggest venture capitalists is in advanced talks to buy a portfolio of stakes in some of the country’s most promising technology companies.
Sky News has learned that Lexham Partners, set up this year by Dominic Perks, is close to a deal to acquire stakes in companies including Paragraf, the graphene-based electronics company, and Nexeon, a specialist of Battery Technology, London. IP group listed.
A source close to IP Group indicated that a transaction could be concluded as early as this week.
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Lexham would acquire part of IP Group’s stakes in around ten companies, although IP would retain part of its existing stakes, the source added.
Other companies included in the deal would include Istesso, which Mr Perks came close to listing on the stock market through a special purpose acquisition company in 2022.
A sale would generate cash for IP Group, which has endured a period of difficult performance only partially offset by a number of substantial achievements.
These include Featurespace, the company backed by Mike Lynch, the late tech pioneer who died this summer in a boating accident off the coast of Italy.
Featurespace was sold this autumn to Visa, the US payments giant, for more than £700m.
This generated a total cash payment to IP Group of over £130 million.
IP Group’s portfolio also includes stakes in companies such as First Light, the nuclear fusion specialist, and Oxford Nanopore, the London-listed DNA sequencing group.
The value of the deal between IP Group and Lexham was unclear Tuesday.
Lexham was founded by Mr Perks following his departure from Hambro Perks, which he had set up with Rupert Hambro, the financier.
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It has already struck deals to buy stakes in companies including Atom Bank, the digital lender, and is raising a number of fund vehicles to invest in different technology areas.
Shares in IP Group were trading at around 45.5p on Tuesday afternoon, giving the company a market capitalization of just under £450 million.
Both IP Group and Lexham have been contacted for comment.