The three Northern VCTs have launched a new joint share offer to raise an aggregate of up to £60m (£20m per fund) in the 2017/18 tax year.
The three VCTS are Northern Venture Trust, Northern 2 VCT and Northern 3 VCT.
Applications under the offer will be dealt with on a first come first served basis, except that existing shareholders in each of the companies will have priority application rights until 13 October 2017.
In a statement, the offer highlights were published:
- 30% income tax relief available on subscriptions (provided the shares are held for at least five years)
- Dividends paid by VCTs are tax-free to shareholders
- All three Northern VCTs already have diversified and mature portfolios, with a high proportion of investments in common
- The VCTs will invest in a diverse portfolio of early stage companies with high growth potential
- Experienced manager – NVM Private Equity has been investing in growing unquoted UK companies for 33 years
- Large and growing investment team based in key locations across the UK
- Strong deal flow
- Investors have the option to invest in any one or a combination of the funds
The money raised will be invested mainly in early-stage unquoted UK companies with high growth potential. Over the last 22 years the Northern VCTs have invested almost £380m in over 220 companies. NVM is one of the longest established venture capital fund managers backing growing SMEs in the UK.
Chairman of NVM Private Equity Tim Levett said: “The Northern VCTs have a market-leading performance record and we at NVM are building on our experience of delivering returns from investing in a wide range of companies and business sectors to assemble a portfolio of companies that we think have exciting growth potential. In order to do this we are expanding our existing investment team to add new technical and market skills, and we are excited about building a diverse portfolio over the next three years.”
Commenting on the announcement Alex Davies, CEO and founder of Wealth Club says: “Northern has a legion of loyal fans for its VCTs and this offer is likely to sell out very quickly. Hardly surprising when you consider over 1, 3 and 10 years their performance has been at the top of the performance tables. With this offer investors get a decent mix of old MBO style companies and newer growth investments. Although for the first three weeks the offer is only available to existing investors, new investors wanting to get a slice of the action should also apply now so that when the offer does open, they will be first in the queue.”
