Electra chiefs pick up pounds 8.7m

Michael Stoddart, the chairman of Electra Investment Trust, will pick up around pounds 1.5m as a result of a partnership deal agreed yesterday with Robert Fleming, writes David Hellier.

He is believed to have paid around pounds 180,000 for the shares when the company was formed in 1989, making him a generous profit even by the standards of venture capitalists.

Robert Fleming is paying pounds 29.5m for a 50 per cent shareholding in Electra Kingsway, the company set up by Mr Stoddart and others to manage and find deals for the Electra trust. The deal, predicted in yesterday's Independent, means around 30 managers will share pounds 8.7m for their 20 per cent of Electra Kingsway.

Other institutional shareholders, including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the government of Singapore, which are all selling out, will pick up around pounds 13.3m.

No profits figures are being given for the management company but Fleming is said to be paying the equivalent of 15 times historic earnings. Fleming is to provide the company, Electra Fleming, with an underwriting facility of up to pounds 75m to enable the underwriting of single transactions with an equity element of up to pounds 150m.

Electra Fleming and Jardine Fleming will also set up a new joint venture company, called JF Electra Holdings, for the management of unquoted investments in the Asia Pacific region.

John Manser, Robert Fleming's chief executive, said Electra Fleming was "a major step in developing investment management business in private equity".

Investment Column, page 19