FCM prepares for expansion

FCM hopes to raise between £20-25m cash next year when it floats on the AIM stock exchange, which it will use to recruit additional investment managers to cope with the increased number of deal opportunities now landing on the group’s desk, said Paul Davidson, founder of FCM.

“I used to be looking at three deals a year, now its three deals a week,” he said. “From this increase we are expecting around 12 exits in the first year as a public company.” FCM floated it first company earlier this year. When Oystertec, a company developing industrial pipes, floated in February it raised £30m.

FCM invests sweat equity and some financing to commercialise British inventions primarily in the engineering sector. “Every big company is based on a single invention, but in the beginning it is hard for inventors to secure funding and good management,” he said. “FCM sits in the middle and mediates.” Some of the other ventures FCM has invested in include the Underground Chamber company, a telecoms infrastructure business, and The Bag in the Box, which fits industrial boxes with liners.

The company has recently appointed Angus Monro as non-executive chairman. Previously he was the CEO of clothes retail store Matalan, where he was responsible for business development. Prior to that he was at Kingfisher, holding the positions of trading director at Woolworths and buying director at B&Q.

By promoting UK inventors, Davidson believes the UK economy will benefit. “On numerous occasions in the past there has been a reluctance on the part of financiers to support British inventors with the result that some of our best ideas have gone overseas to be developed. FCM is providing a vehicle that will enable this country’s inventors to turn their ideas into commercially viable products that benefit them and the economy at large.”