Published: Dec 23, 2016
Focus:
Growth Capital
The Scottish Loan Fund, managed by Maven, has made a successful exit from its investment in Vermilion Software following the sale of Vermilion to FactSet Research Systems Inc, a leading provider of integrated financial information and analytical applications. FactSet acquired Vermilion Software Limited for cash consideration of $67 million generating an IRR on the Fund’s investment of 50%.
Vermilion secured SLF funding back in November 2013 to invest in additional sales resource, enhance product functionality and pursue geographic expansion. Since then the business has grown to become one of the leading client reporting vendors to the financial services industry, doubling both its turnover and headcount and winning many accolades for its best-in-class software.
Vermilion’s flagship product, Vermilion Reporting Suite (VRS), is a one-stop software solution designed to address all critical business issues concerning client reporting and client communications. VRS allows client service professionals to deliver multilingual, graphical, marketing-quality reports, all of which can be created through an automated, scalable process. Its software is primarily used by asset managers who have been driven to explore new ways to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market with ever increasing regulatory obligations, while continuing to meet the growing demands of their clients.
Crucially for asset managers, VRS is designed to easily integrate with existing and established reporting platforms. This helps to overcome the industry’s reliance on bespoke and historic reporting systems that to a large extent have been developed in-house and evolved over the years through incremental improvements. The company has invested heavily to drive growth and develop its best-in-class product to serve a growing and loyal client base.
Since 2011 SLF has committed over £80 million in support of 31 dynamic, growth-focused Scottish SMEs, and is still actively investing. The exit from Vermilion is the 15th achieved by SLF in four years, and has delivered another strong return for the fund.
David Milroy, Investment Director at Maven, commented: “We are delighted to have been able to support Vermilion in achieving such strong growth since 2013 and establishing itself as the pre-eminent client reporting vendor. It has been enjoyable working with the Vermilion team and we wish them every success for the future. Vermilion’s success exemplifies the potential for the Scottish Loan Fund to support dynamic businesses in achieving their growth aspirations.”
Marcus Noble, Managing Director at Vermilion, added: “The introduction of SLF via Maven came at the perfect time for us and allowed the team to put their plans into action. Maven didn’t just provide us with development capital they became a really positive influence on our board helping us make sound decisions and were continually supportive of the direction the business was going."
Michelle Kinnaird, Investment Director at Scottish Investment Bank, said: “The Scottish Loan Fund continues to be a valuable source of finance for ambitious, growth-oriented SMEs, and it’s great to see the impact that this funding has had on helping to take Vermilion to the next level. We hope that other companies in a similar position will see this success and be inspired to consider how best they can finance their own growth plans.”
