Investor Insights Podcast #26 - Martin Davis, CEO of Molten Ventures (GROW-LON)

In Episode #26 we spoke to Martin Davis Chief Executive Officer of Molten Ventures (GROW-LON). Molten Ventures was founded in 2006 and is now one of the largest listed Venture Capital (VC) investment companies in Europe. The business aims to invest in disruptive, high growth companies with strong intellectual property and powerful technology enabling them to operate and grow into new markets.
In each episode of our Investor Insights Podcast we will be interviewing portfolio managers from across the investment industry to gain from the expertise in their specialist areas and to question them on the topical issues.
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[@stevenkavanagh4347]

Surely a successful realisation is above NAV and not at, or close to NAV?

[@GordonSmith-Killik]

Hi Steven, yes ‘supportive realisation’ perhaps more appropriate phrasing. With Molten Ventures shares trading at a significant discount (>35% currently), the market is implying scepticism in the published NAV. Therefore, sales at holding values are helpful in supporting the valuation methodology deriving the NAV (i.e. the fair value at the last valuation point, the price that is assumed could be achieved in an orderly transaction for these core holdings). Endomag, the largest realisation of the three mentioned in this interview, was a successful investment for Molten Ventures - earning a 3.7x multiple on invested capital having first invested in the company in 2018 (the sale, at slightly above the holding value which had been marked up incrementally, realising that gain). Perkbox (1.3x) and Graphcore (0.9x), when combined, clearly made a far more modest return for the company but their sales nonetheless supported the carrying values.