Octopus expands healthcare business through acquisition of MedicX Holdings Ltd

Octopus Investments (Octopus), a fast-growing UK fund management business with leading positions in several specialist sectors including healthcare, energy and smaller company investing, today announced that it is expanding its healthcare business through the acquisition of MedicX Holdings Ltd, the leading UK healthcare real estate investment manager.

The acquisition has been completed via Octopus' parent company, Octopus Capital Ltd.

Octopus Capital Ltd and the MedicX management team led by Mike Adams, CEO, have agreed to acquire MedicX Holdings Ltd (MedicX) from funds advised by Cabot Square Capital. The acquisition takes Octopus' funds under management to over £4.7 billion with MedicX managing £0.9 billion of funds across the LSE listed MedicX Fund (MXF) and two private closed-ended funds

Octopus has been an active investor in the healthcare sector for the last three years and has an established healthcare business which has provided over £100 million of financing to date with a strong pipeline of opportunities in a growing market. Recent deals include financing Carebase, a nursing, residential and dementia care home developer, and Rangeford, a developer of retirement villages.

Guinness Asset Management launches Guinness AIM EIS 2015 to invest in AIM-listed companies that qualify for EIS

Guinness Asset Management, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, announces that the Guinness AIM EIS 2015 is now open for investment.

This is a discretionary managed service that will invest in AIM-listed companies

through the tax-efficient EIS structure. It follows on from the successful launch of the

Guinness AIM EIS 2014 last year.

AIM-listed companies

Guinness AIM EIS 2015 is targeting capital growth by making investments in AIM-listed

companies that qualify for EIS reliefs.

Mercia extends its gaming portfolio with £200,000 investment in Edge Case Games

Technology investor Mercia Fund Management has announced a £200,000 investment in Edge Case Games.

Edge Case Games is the team behind the popular space flight combat game Strike Suit Zero, downloaded and enjoyed by well over a million gamers on PC, XBOne and PS4.

Formed by two industry veterans, James Brooksby and Chris Mehers, and supported by an experienced creative team based in Guildford, Edge Case Games is moving to the free to play games as a service model, focusing on the core PC gamer audience. First steps will be to focus on building a vibrant engaged community around its first soon to be announced free to play game.

Chris Mehers, co-founder of Edge Case commenting on the investment said: "These funds will be used to expand the development team, and create the right launch platform for our first free to play game." He added: "We chose Mercia as our funding partner as their experience and depth of knowledge in the digital entertainment sector means that they will add value way beyond simply being a financial investor."

Redag secures multi-million funding for demerger 

Redag Crop Protection - the agrochemical arm of Liverpool-based biotech business Redx Pharma - has demerged from its parent company after securing a seven-figure investment.

The new company will operate from laboratories in Alderley Park, Cheshire and will create 20 scientific research posts in its first three years of operation.

The demerger has been facilitated by a substantial fundraising package arranged by Manchester-based corporate finance boutique Acceleris Capital. The North West Fund for Venture Capital, which is managed by Enterprise Ventures, has invested alongside existing Redx shareholders and new private investors.

Redag was established two years ago as a subsidiary of Redx under the leadership of Bill Thompson, who now becomes CEO of the newly demerged business. Redag will focus on developing products for the global agrochemical market, which is worth some £50 billion a year, in particular new fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and nematicides - products which play a vital role in controlling the pests and diseases that threaten our global food supply.

SMEs turn to apprenticeships to fill skills gap

• 23% of firms are looking to develop apprentice schemes to fill skills gap 32% of firms feel that they lack expertise in key areas One-in-three businesses are looking to increase their overall headcount

As SMEs battle to find the required skills in the recruitment market, nearly one in four (23%) are looking to develop apprentice schemes to fill the void. This is according to a new report1 launched by Albion Ventures, one of the largest independent venture capital investors in the UK.

The 2014 Albion Ventures Growth report, which examines the challenges and opportunities faced by 450 small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) with a combined turnover of over £1.6 billion, shows that a third (32%) of firms feel that they lack expertise in key areas. One in ten (9%) SMEs believe that a lack of management expertise is a significant barrier to growth and a further 9% said that a lack of business mentoring is a threat to the growth of their company.

This lack of investment in skills cannot be solely placed at the feet of government. Businesses admitted that they themselves are most likely to focus their training resources on skilled staff, with two in five (39%) committed to this compared to only 27% who plan to train and develop semi-skilled staff and 14% for low-skilled and low paid staff.