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Nabarro advises SPARK Ventures on £15m fundraise

27 August 2015

This article was produced by Nabarro LLP, which joined CMS on 1 May 2017.

Nabarro has advised long-standing client, SPARK Ventures plc, on its £15 million fundraising and change of investment strategy and investment manager.  SPARK is a technology investment company which has backed the likes of mergermarket and IMImobile.  It had been in run-off but this transaction sees it appoint Gresham House at its new investment manager and move into strategic public equity alongside its existing VC capabilities.  The fundraising involved a placing and open offer and included acquiring stakes in three public companies (SpaceandPeople, Miton Group and Castle Street Investments).  The Company also carried out a share consolidation as part of the transaction.

The Nabarro team was led by partner and Head of Corporate Iain Newman, with assistance from Corporate associates Sioned Bates and Jamie Evans.  finnCap and Liberum acted as joint brokers to the fundraising.

Iain Newman, Corporate partner at Nabarro, said:

“It was great to help David, Tom, Andy and the rest of the SPARK team on the next step of their journey.  We have enjoyed working with them since they started in 1999 and look forward to helping them going forward.”

David Potter, chairman of SPARK Ventures, commented:

“The Nabarro team looked after us well as ever and got us through a complex transaction with calm reassurance along the way.”