Draper Esprit (AIM: GROW, ESM: GRW), one of the leading venture capital investors involved in the creation, funding and development of high-growth digital technology businesses in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Europe, announces that it has accepted, along with other investors, a conditional offer for Dublin based portfolio company Movidius Ltd (“Movidius”) from Intel Corporation (“Intel”) for an undisclosed sum.
Movidius is a leader in high performance, ultra-low power computer vision technology for connected devices. By combining sophisticated software algorithms with a powerful, purpose-built Vision Processing Unit (VPU), Movidius brings new levels of visual intelligence to smart devices. Applications of Movidius’ leading technology enable a new wave of intelligent and contextually aware devices such as drones and Augmented and Virtual Reality devices.
Intel, a Santa Clara based global technology company (NASDAQ: INTC), has made a conditional offer for Movidius, which will result in an estimated total cash return of approximately £27 million for Draper Esprit before provision for accrued tax and carried interest payments. The Group had an unaudited pro-forma Net Asset Value (“NAV”) including goodwill at admission of £128.7 million with the disclosed audited NAV of the holding in Movidius of £7.5m as at 31 December 2015.
The sale is expected to complete before the end of 2016 and is estimated to increase the Group’s total NAV by approximately 21%, when compared to the pro-forma NAV (excluding goodwill and cash) reported at the time of the Group’s admission to AIM / ESM in June 2016. The Group intends to invest the proceeds of the transaction in line with its existing investment policy.
Further details will be presented in the Group’s trading statement to be made in early October.
Simon Cook, CEO Draper Esprit commented: “We are proud to have once again helped an incredible management team with superior European technology to become a leading global platform. Movidius’ technology is enabling the next generation of computing devices with vision interfaces and the sale will allow the business to take full advantage of Intel’s global leadership and strong market position and the obvious market benefits this will bring.”
