Ex-RBS team continues path to independence

SOF Investments, the private equity team spun out of RBS in November 2013, has renamed itself Pollen Street Capital, according to a statement.

The firm, which focuses on investments in the financial services sector, is currently managing a £300 million fund which it raised in 2014 to acquire four assets from the RBS Special Opportunities Fund, a £1.1 billion fund it managed prior to the spin-out, according to a source familiar with the matter.

These assets, which include Shawbrook Bank, a British bank; Target Group, a software provider for financial services businesses and Banca Sistema, an Italian bank.

Pollen Street’s recent fund can only be used to for further investments in these assets and cannot make new investments from this vehicle, the source added.

Pollen Street declined to comment beyond the statement.

The firm’s most recent transactions include the sale of Moneycorp to Bridgepoint in an exit worth £212 million and the add-on acquisition of Freedom Finance, an unsecured lending broker in the UK by its portfolio company Target Group.

The rebranding comes as Pollen Street is likely to attempt to raise a successor fund. Pollen Street would typically invest in businesses with an operational value of between £200 million and £500 million, writing equity tickets of between £20 million and £70 million, the source added.

The team is led by Lindsey McMurray, who led the team that managed the Special Opportunities Fund within RBS. She also spent six years as a partner at Cabot Square Capital, focusing on operating investments in real estate and other asset backed investments, together with investments in the financial services sector.