NVM Private Equity has sold its three northeast England-focused venture capital trusts to Mercia Asset Management.

UK region-focused investment firm Mercia Asset Management has picked up three venture capital trusts specialised in northeast England investments from its peer NVM Private Equity for £25m ($32.9m).
NVM’s Northern Venture Trust, Northern 2 VCT and Northern 3 VCT will all transfer to Mercia subject to shareholder approval, as will their investment teams, led by partners Tim Levett and Charlie Winward.
Mercia will fund the acquisitions through a $39.4m equity raise, boosting its total assets under management to approximately $1bn and creating what it claims is the largest VCT manager centred on northeast England.
Together, the trusts hold an estimated $355m in assets and 60 portfolio companies: including 27 VC-stage businesses, 16 private equity investments and 17 listed stocks.
NVM will continue to offer administrative and accounting support to the vehicles until at least September 2021.
Mark Payton, chief executive of Mercia Asset Management, said: “We are delighted to announce the conditional acquisition of the NVM VCT business, which is highly complementary to Mercia’s existing activities and will cement our position as a leading provider of complete, connected capital to SMEs in the UK regions.”
Mercia’s portfolio book value climbed $5.1m year-on-year in 2018-19, surpassing the $3.9m increase achieved in 2017-18.
The rise came despite its association with failed investment business Woodford Investment Management, which owned a 24.9% shareholding in Mercia before paring the stake back to about 20% in July 2019.