Pollen Street PLC

Pollen Street Group said its assets under management reached £8.5 billion at the end of June, split almost evenly between private equity and credit strategies, while fee-paying AUM rose 18% to £5.5 billion. The group raised £1.8 billion in credit capital that remained undeployed at period-end, supporting future fee growth, and completed fundraising for Private Credit Fund IV above expectations, with almost half of the larger fund already invested. Fund-management revenue increased 22% like-for-like and fund-management EBITDA rose 73% to £16.1 million, helped by a 90% increase in performance fees. The investment company's reported balance-sheet return was 3.4%, reduced by a 3.8% mark-to-market impact from Shawbrook's share-price decline and a 0.2% one-time equalization effect tied to the larger Credit IV; excluding those, the underlying return was 7.4%. Pollen Street returned £25 million to shareholders in the first half, including £7 million of buybacks, and announced a further £17 million interim dividend, while targeting a €1.75 billion to €2 billion size for Private Equity Fund VI.

Pollen Street Capital has agreed to acquire Universal Banking, the global core banking software division of Finastra. Financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed. The unit supplies software for account and deposit administration, payments, lending, and treasury functions, serving more than 150 clients in over 100 countries. After the transaction closes, Universal Banking will continue as a standalone company under its current management team, with Pollen Street supporting further product development including GenAI and data tools. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.