Augmentum Fintech (AUGM ) has notched up its fifth profitable disposal, selling a stake in net zero pension and ISA provider Cushon for a 46% uplift after a £144m acquisition by NatWest (NWG) bank. 

Shares in Augmentum, a backer of early-stage financial services disrupters whose shares have fallen out of favour, rose 3% to 108.25p on Monday as the deal was announced. The company said it would add 2%, or 3.1p per share, to net asset value (NAV). They eased 0.5p today, just 7.75p above their flotation price nearly five years ago.

In recent months, as the trust’s shares have tumbled to a 30% discount below asset value in the bear market, Augmentum has been at pains to point out the sensible valuations at which it bought the 25 unquoted investments in its £275m portfolio.

Augmentum held a 13.9% stake in Cushon, accounting for 6.7% of NAV in September, its fourth largest position. It first invested £5m in June 2021 and a further £5m in March last year.

It said the acquisition by NatWest would generate a £22.8m gain over last September’s valuation of its stake in Cushon of £15.6m.

The deal marks Augmentum’s fifth realisation since listing in March 2018, each of which it said had been at or above carrying value.

Augmentum’s previous disposals include Interactive Investor, the online stock broker sold to fund manager Abrdn; Dext, a UK accounting software provider sold to HgCapital (HGT ); as well as crowdfunding platform Seedrs and family office service provider SRL Global, which were both sold in 2021.

NatWest is buying 85% of Cushon with 15% retained by its management, including chief executive and founder Ben Pollard. The bank’s chief executive Alison Rose said Cushon’s workplace savings and pension products were an important addition to its proposition for medium-sized business customers.

‘As a workplace savings disrupter, Cushon will help NatWest Group achieve its strategic, purpose-led vision of helping customers save for tomorrow,’ added Peter Flavel, head of the bank’s wealth management business.

All of which is music to the ears of Augmentum boss Time Levene as bids from big buyers provide its main exit on investments with stock markets currently largely closed to flotations.

‘Financial incumbents are increasingly looking to accelerate their digital transformation through acquiring innovative, digital-first propositions. The pensions industry has certainly suffered from a lack of transformative innovation to date and with their net zero pension offering and tech-led approach, Cushon is a true digital disruptor,’ said Levene.

Peel Hunt, Augmentum’s broker, said the sale would leave the trust with around £70m of cash to support its businesses during the downturn. Its analysts described the 30% discount – with the shares closing at 107.75p on Tuesday – to last September’s 155p NAV per share as ‘attractive’ and reiterated their ‘outperform’ rating.

Numis also approved. ‘The portfolio appears to be performing well despite the difficult backdrop and the fund has benefited from downside protections which are represented across the majority of the portfolio,’ said analyst Gavin Trodd.

Augmentum’s next valuation at 31 March will be published with annual results in July.