Station 12 targets £150m for debut fund

Station 12, a UK-based firm focusing on investments in the media and entertainment sector, is targeting £150 million (€181 million, $251 million) for its debut fund.

The firm, established Friday, will officially come to market this summer, according to a statement.

It is understood the firm has investments in the pipeline and may hold a first close in the next few weeks to enable Station 12’s debut fund to start doing deals. Station 12 declined to comment beyond the statement.

Station 12 will provide growth and expansion capital to media, entertainment and media technology companies in Europe. It will target investments in companies ranging from television, film, publishing and live entertainment, through to marketing services, e-commerce, digital content, gaming, fashion and design. The firm will write average ticket sizes of around £10 million.

“Although the sector’s start-up community benefits from a healthy investment environment, a lack of crucial follow-on funding means too many mid-market companies do not get the opportunity to expand. The US has deep resources of capital at this stage, whereas Europe is currently under-served. If Europe is to take full economic advantage of the growing and evolving media and technology market, it is vital this shortfall is addressed,” Station 12 said in the statement.

The firm is led by former chief executive officer of UK-based Ingenious Ventures Patrick Bradley. Ingenious Ventures, which is the private equity division of London-based Ingenious, a specialist media and entertainment investment and advisory group, was set up partly by Bradley in 2001.

Ingenious Ventures’ investments include Lionhead Studios, a UK-based video games developer which was snapped up by Microsoft, electronic music festival operator Cream, which it sold to Live Nation for a 9.1x return. It also backed 19 Entertainment, Simon Fuller’s company that came up with Pop Idol and Digital Rights Group, UK’s largest indy TV rights distributor which was behind The Inbetweeners and Doc Martin.

Before joining Ingenious, Bradley held senior operational positions at PolyGram and Universal Studios.

Station 12 declined to comment on whether Ingenious will become an investor in the fund. Station 12 is currently based in Ingenious’ offices and Patrick McKenna, founder and chief executive of Ingenious, will act as a strategic advisor to Station 12.