Welcome to Beer & Partners Funding Site

Selected Investor Exits

San Diego based pharma provides Beer investors with returns of 110% per annum

In 2007/08 we raised £463,000 for specialty pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, with a broad pipeline of commercial products across numerous therapeutic classes. The company was backed into a NASDAQ quoted entity, and subsequently demerged a division which focused on developing and inlicensing revenue generating therapeutic drug candidates into an OTC quoted vehicle. The combined value of these transactions offered a return on investment of 3.5x.

After falling back over the last 2 years, the returns in 2012 if still held represent a return of 3x.

Beer Angels Receive 100% pa Returns from Investment in Sphere Medical

A syndicate of Beer investors participated in the last round of pre-IPO funding for Cambridge medical device business Sphere Medical. Although angels tend to invest long-term, this project provided a quick, solid return to investors in a very short space of time. Sphere has raised £14m from a share placing in association with its AIM float valuing the company at £34.05m. The company is developing a revolutionary new real-time system for monitoring blood gas levels (oxygen, carbon dioxide) and other parameters in critically ill patients.

If these six angels sold at the flotation price, they have made a profit of 43% on their original investment in less than 5 months – 100% pa.

London Poker Club Provides Return of 83%

The club, which opened in September 2010 after securing fundraising of around £1m, is London’s only dedicated poker club with a full UK casino license. It was recently announced that Genting Casinos has acquired the business for an undisclosed sum, which is situated on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Investors introduced through Beer have seen a return of 83% on their investment into Fox Poker Club over 17 months.

Online Design Business Provides 4x Return on Investment in 2.5 Years

This online designer of children’s clothes attracted an initial £170,000 from our investor in 2009. This, followed by additional £172,000 invested in late 2010 / early 2011, brought the company to a position where it has now been able to raise £5m.

This enabled our investor to exit at over 4x the original investment in two and a half years.

Green Waste Provides 33% pa Return on Investment

Beer & Partners assisted this green waste-management company in raising a mixture of debt and equity finance totalling £950,000 in 2006. The company provides sustainable solutions for managing the growing burden of organic waste in the UK. They have a number of composting sites across Sussex, Hampshire, Essex, Kent and Warwickshire, some of which produce over 25,000 tonnes of soil conditioning compost per annum.

In March 2010, the company was sold through trade sale, providing a return on original investment valuation of 33% pa over 3.5 years.

Wireless CCTV Company Delivers 150% pa Return to Investor

This company has an unrivalled track record in the delivery of large scale broadband wireless, network surveillance (IP CCTV) and voice over wireless LAN (VoWi-Fi) solutions. Poised for rapid expansion in a recession-proof, high growth sector, this company required funding in 2008 to maximise this opportunity. The management had an aggressive expansion plan and required investment of £1 million to increase turnover over the next three years. This was to increase marketing, working capital and the launch of a managed services offering. A single investor reacted quickly and undertook the entire investment in three instalments, between November 2008 and December 2009.

In March 2010 the company was sold to a trade buyer, enabling the investor to double his original investment - a return on an average period of 8 months investment of 150% pa.

Greener Solutions Provides 10x Return on Investment

Beer & Partners assisted Greener Solutions in raising equity finance in 2002. This funding facilitated the company through its expansion phase and it now has offices in both the UK and Germany. The company’s unique approach to recycling mobile phones has attracted major clients such as Vodaphone.

A recent fundraising gave Beer & Partners investors the right to participate in a call option valuing their shares at 10x the initial investment value.

Epistem Delivers High Returns for Beer’s Investors

Beer & Partners introduced shares in Epistem pre-IPO to investors in the Autumn of 2006. They were taken up alongside institutional investor portions in Spring 2007. The price of £1.24 which Beer investors obtained represented a discount to the projected and actual £1.50 AIM flotation price.

Shares provided a return for Beer & Partners investors in excess of 3.2x their initial investment within 3 years. Investments were made with EIS eligibility for investors.

Epistem makes its living from scientific discoveries, know-how and considerable specialist expertise in adult epitheliel stem cells.  At the time when our investors made a commitment there were revenues from pre-clinical contract services, investigations into compounds which affected the behaviour of epithelial stem cells and prospects of striking licensing/partnership deals with big pharma.  After the funding the company struck a deal with Novartis over the Epistem drug pipeline, won further specialist pre-clinical contract research contracts and developed a plucked hair bio-marker approach which could be highly valuable in predicting individual patient responses to cancer therapies.

IPCC Sold to Lloyds Pharmacy for £60m

Beer & Partners assisted Independent Pharmacy Care Centre (IPCC) in raising £6.5m between 2004 and 2006. The funding facilitated the expansion of IPCC as they grew to an estate of 35 pharmacy units. The roll-out was strongly based on the community model of high quality independent pharmacies often located close to doctor’s surgeries and delivering an enhanced range of services within those communities.

Investors doubled their initial investment having successfully exited within 18 months on the sale of IPCC to the German-owned Lloyds Pharmacy in a £60 million deal.

"The offer constitutes an excellent outcome for all IPCC shareholders. Our employees who have been integral to our success, will be part of a professionally-run, modern, profitable and forward-thinking pharmacy group." Dr Shah, Executive Chairman IPCC.