Following the AIC’s announcement, which reported that the sector has raised £728m, the second highest amount since VCTs’ inception and an increase of 34% on last year’s figure of £542m, Paul Latham, Managing Director of Octopus Investments, comments on VCT demand in the 2017/18 tax year.
He said: “This year marks yet another milestone for VCT investing, as demand surpasses that of last year. The spike in inflows is perhaps not surprising when you consider the changes to pension legislation, restrictions on the lifetime allowance and to the buy-to- let market, altering the way people invest. As these areas become squeezed, people are increasingly looking to VCTs to provide them with a credible way of investing in a tax efficient manner.
“Demand was such that this year, many investors would have missed out on their first choice, unless they acted early, with several opportunities closing ahead of the tax year end. Octopus Titan, the UK’s largest VCT, rapidly reached its initial fundraise target of £120 million within just four months. We then offered an additional £80 million of fundraising capacity, which attracted a huge amount of interest – so much so that we reached our target of £200 million two weeks before tax year end.”
