Disruptive Capital considers third party fund – exclusive

Disruptive Capital Finance is considering launching its first third party fund, Disruptive Capital’s chairman Edi Truell told Private Equity International.

The family office, which invests on a deal by deal basis and alongside co-investors, owns a number of companies that are expanding globally and require additional capital, Truell said.

“They have the potential to be market leaders, but in several cases it would take another £100 million or so to get them there,” he said.

Truell described deal by deal investing as “hard work” and noted that investors were often more comfortable with limited partner agreements that they understand. “With Disruptive Capital we’ve tried to do things differently but investors want standard terms and don’t want to have to work out new structures,” Truell said.

DCF’s investments include e-invoice company Tungsten Corporation that listed on AIM in 2013, Imagine Publishing in which it acquired a majority stake in 2013, vehicle software company Tantalum Corporation, AIM-listed Media Tech Pharma, the Pensions Insurance Corporation (PIC) co-founded by Truell and his brother Danny Truell, and Atlantic Superconnection, which is developing a power sharing project between the UK and Iceland.

The firm also has fund investments including Adveq Almond Trust 2, Alpha, Permira Debt Managers and Babson Capital, it said in a 2014 review.

The DCF portfolio is valued at more than £130 million ($197 million; €176 million) with the core fund reporting an increase in net asset value of 29.77 percent over the year, the review said. The firm said it had decided to open Disruptive Capital Investments Limited to selected external investors to boost its ability to acquire significant stakes in target companies.

Truell established Duke Street Capital in 1998, selling out of its debt business in 2005 and its equity business in 2007, before establishing PIC, which had an enterprise value of £1.64 billion at the end of 2014.

Truell heads the Strategic Investment Advisory Board established to offer investment advice to the newly formed Lancashire London Pensions Partnership (LLPP). The LLPP was created out of the merger of the London Pension Fund Authority, of which Truell was chair until 1 September, and the Lancashire County Pension Fund.

Truell also serves as the Mayor of London's pensions and investment adviser.