INVESTMENT FIRM TVC is in talks with two listed companies in the UK as part of its strategy to identify and invest in undervalued public companies.

Speaking after the company's first agm since its flotation, executive chairman Shane Reihill said it would invest between €15 million and €25 million in each company, taking anywhere between 10 and 30 per cent in each.

Mr Reihill said he was looking at companies in a similar situation to TVC, which he said has become unjustifiably cheap since its flotation.

"We have a conservative balance sheet valued at €124 million at book and we are looking at a current market value as of yesterday of €88 million. That doesn't make sense," he said. In the current market, with share prices depressed and companies seeking to raise funds, there were opportunities for investment, he said.

"If you have cash and the share price is depressed, that is an opportunity hopefully to get in at a good medium to long term value. We are not a hedge fund. We are doing investments over three to five years," he said.

TVC already has an investment in a publicly quoted company, holding a 27.1 per cent stake in Norkom, the Irish company listed on Dublin's IEX and London's AIM markets.

Mr Reihill said that the valuations for privately-owned companies which it has looked at have not come down to the same extent as public companies.

"The stock market is just the public proxy of commercial value," he said.

"Private companies at the moment still seem to have price expectations that don't relate to the stock market valuations on similar small cap companies.

"I think there is a lag before the numbers start to come down in some operating companies that are affected by consumer spend," Mr Reihill added.