2 March 2010

Octopus Capital for Enterprise Fund invests £2.0 million into Frankis Solutions Limited

• • £2m investment to support the growth of a specialist remediation firm

Octopus Ventures (Octopus) today announced an investment of £2.0 million from the £30 million Octopus Capital for Enterprise Fund (OCfE) into Frankis Solutions Limited (FSL), a leading provider of specialist land remediation services and groundworks.

Investment from Octopus will provide working capital to strengthen the balance sheet, recruit additional specialist staff in order to expand its geographical footprint across the UK, and make selective investments in capital equipment.

FSL focuses on the reclamation, remediation and restoration of contaminated land for redevelopment. The combined skills and technical expertise of the management team enable FSL to undertake every aspect of reclamation from demolition and site clearance to the complex process of remediation of highly contaminated land and the construction of infrastructure and foundations. FSL works across a wide range of sectors in the construction industry such as residential housing, energy and infrastructure. Clients include national and regional house builders, land developers and major civil engineering contractors.

FSL was founded in 2000 by Andy Frankis, MD, who has re-invested into the company and has built the firm to forecast turnover of £22m, and profits of £1.8m in the year to 31 July 2010. Frankis comments: “We pride ourselves on our ability to find innovative and cost effective solutions to ground related productions. We have the knowledge and skills to drive the business forward but the downturn has severely restricted our ability to fund that growth. The investment from Octopus comes at a perfect time and will allow us to both consolidate our position and fund the next stage of growth.”

Octopus is one of the UK’s fastest growing investment companies, and now has over £1.4 billion of funds under management, including the OCfE fund. Octopus specialises in working with entrepreneurs, providing funding solutions and support to develop companies from early stage to buy out. Rupert Bell, Investment Director, Octopus Ventures, said: “FSL is a specialist operator and one of the leaders in its field. It has shown impressive growth despite the downturn, which had a serious impact on the construction industry, and now has a record sales pipeline. We believe that FSL has the key attributes to continue its impressive growth and expand across the UK and we are excited about the opportunity to help them achieve this.”

Rupert Bell and Ben Kirby led the deal on behalf of Octopus. Octopus’ principal advisers were Cameron McKenna (legal), CiL (commercial diligence), and BDO (financial diligence). FSL was advised by Osbourne Clark.

Media Enquiries

Octopus Investments
Sharon Makin 020 7710 6470
press@octopusinvestments.com

Frankis Solutions Limited
Andy Frankis 020 8309 2800
A.Frankis@frankissolutions.com

Notes to Editors

About Octopus Investments Ltd (www.octopusinvestments.com) Established in 2000, Octopus Investments is a leading investment specialist, providing investors with access to a growing range of innovative investment solutions including a discretionary management service, a range of single manager funds; equity OEICS, venture capital trusts, enterprise investment schemes and inheritance tax solutions. Since inception, Octopus has grown its customer base to over 22,000 with funds under management of over £1.4 billion. Octopus was voted ‘VCT Provider of the Year’ in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Octopus was voted the top UK financial services company to work for in the Sunday Times survey of ‘Best 100 SMEs to Work For’ in 2008 and was re-listed in the top 100 companies for 2009. Additionally, the Company won the ‘Badenoch & Clark Business of the Year’ award and the ‘3i Growth Strategy of the Year Award’ at the 2008 National Business Awards, Regional Finals, South East of England, in July 2008, and the ‘Business of the Year’ award at the 2009 National Business Awards, Regional Finals, South East of England, in July 2009. Octopus has over 100 staff with 30+ investment professionals.

About Octopus Ventures (www.octopusventures.com) Octopus Ventures, a division of Octopus Investments, manages circa £250 million in VCT and EIS funds as well as the £30 million Octopus Capital for Enterprise (OCfE) Fund. Octopus typically invests from £500,000 to £5 million per investment and is a leading player in the UK venture capital industry. Octopus is a generalist investor, preferring to back exceptional entrepreneurial teams rather than specific sectors. Octopus looks for businesses which can create, transform or dominate an industry and is focused on the UK. Octopus has £125 million to invest in the next three years.