Merseyside investment firm Seneca has exited a York-based online music retailer with a five-fold return.
Seneca made a growth capital investment to support the initial public offering of Gear4music in June 2015.
Revenues at the retailer have since ballooned from £24m to £80m, with its market capitalisation up to over £150m.
The investment generated a 5.2 times return, excluding any reliefs provided by the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) for which Gear4music was eligible.
Connor Grimes, investment manager at Seneca, said: “We are delighted with this transaction; not only from a returns perspective but to support such a success story from the regions is fantastic. We would like to thank Andrew Wass, Chris Scott and the rest of management for what they have achieved as a market leader in online retail.”
Gear4music was founded in 2003 by former sound recording engineer Andrew Wass.
Two years ago the retailer also generated a five-times return for private equity house Key Capital Partners, which had taken a 30% stake in 2012.
