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More than £14 million of public money has been invested into private sector technology and innovation projects in the last two years.
New information about the Guernsey Investment Fund, which was set up two years ago, has come to light in answers to written questions from Deputy Richard Graham.
With £65m of taxpayers money committed to the investment vehicle from 2018 to 2023, Deputy Graham submitted a series of questions about how the fund is operating and what money has been invested to date.
As of 31 December, £14,111, 842 has been drawn down from the fund's Technology & Innovation Cell, and £100,000 from the Property Cell.
The fund is operated at arms length from government and its manager, Ravenscroft, has agreed to raise additional commitments of £1 for every £2 committed by the States in relation to the Technology & Innovation Cell.
"Commitments of £25m and £40m have been made by the States to the GIF Technology & Innovation and Property Cells respectively," said Policy & Resources President Gavin St Pier. "These commitments are drawn down by the fund as investments and/or costs are made or incurred. It is intended that the commitments be fully drawn within the five-year investment period."
It would be premature, he told Deputy Graham, to make any comment on the success of the fund's investments.
"As with any investment in venture capital or private equity the success of the underlying investments will only be known once the underlying business plans have been implemented and given a chance to gather momentum," he said. "As mentioned earlier the fund is targeting to be fully invested within five years, with realisations taking place over the following five years. It is too early to assess the likely outcomes at this stage.
Pictured: Policy & Resources President Gavin St Pier responded to Deputy Graham's Rule 14 responses on behalf of his committee.
"With regards the direct or indirect benefits to the Bailiwick, the committee has asked the fund to develop a reporting methodology which can be used to assess the progress of this secondary objective. It is hoped that some early metrics will be available to shareholders during the first quarter of 2020."
Although the States is the fund's majority shareholder, it is run as a closed ended investment scheme with its own independent directors.
As a private unlisted company, its accounts - unlike those of States departments and most trading bodies - are not published.
Deputy St Pier said the complete list of companies in which the fund has invested cannot be shared publicly "due to commercial sensitivity and in order to protect the privacy of third parties, especially during negotiations".
The location of the companies invested in could not be shared either, although it was confirmed that the majority of funds have gone into Guernsey-based businesses.
"The investment objective of the company and of each cell is to aim to achieve long term capital growth achieving a commercial rate of return for shareholders. The company and each cell intends to achieve this through investments which have a Bailiwick of Guernsey focus or which may, in the view of the board and the investment manager, benefit directly or indirectly the development of the Bailiwick. The investment focus is to seek to achieve the required return by investing in:
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