Four established VCTs from one of sector’s most active managers begin fundraise.
Leading VCT and private equity firm Maven Capital Partners (“Maven”) has announced the launch of new joint offers by its VCTs, seeking to raise up to £30m, including aggregate over-allotment facilities of up to £10m.
Maven will be accepting applications from investors for its four VCTs, launched between 2000 and 2004, which each have a large and widely diversified portfolio of more than 90 UK companies. Maven’s VCTs have a long-term track record of delivering positive shareholder returns and regular dividends, and each has a target annual dividend of around 5% of NAV per Share.
The funds raised will be used to continue the expansion of the VCT portfolios, targeting ambitious and growing younger companies across the UK regions, as well as providing follow-on funding to existing portfolio companies as they achieve agreed commercial milestones to help them scale and accelerate growth.
The Maven VCTs have backed more than 150 private and AIM-listed UK companies since 2009. Since January 2020, Maven has completed 36 new private company investments, and achieved 12 profitable VCT exits with total return multiples of up to 6.5x, demonstrating its ability to identify and back dynamic, earlier stage growth businesses which have the potential to deliver positive investor returns.
The VCTs’ broadly based portfolios include high-growth businesses from a range of sectors, including innovators such as Manufacture 2030, a developer of environmental footprint reporting software, graduate careers platform Bright Network, integrated drug discovery service BioAscent, and baby care brand Pura, which specialises in plastic-free wipes and eco-friendly nappies.
As well as early access to some of the UK’s brightest young businesses, vetted by specialist investment teams, VCT investors benefit from a range of attractive tax benefits, including up to 30% initial tax relief, tax-free dividends and exemption from capital gains tax on sale of their shares.
Ewan MacKinnon, Partner at Maven, said: “As investors look to diversify their portfolios, VCTs provide a tax-efficient means to access small, high-growth businesses that are often resilient to global market conditions and agile enough to respond quickly to market and customer change.
“VCT funding plays a role in backing emerging companies and entrepreneurial leadership teams as they scale, allowing business to create jobs and drive economic growth. By investing in a VCT, investors can participate in that early growth potential and can play a part in enhancing the UK’s SME sector.
“We have one of the UK’s largest and most active VCT teams, and these offers will enable our VCTs to continue playing a pivotal role in shaping the UK’s business landscape, and contribute to the levelling up focus on areas outside London.”
