Fund manager Amati is looking to raise £25mn for its AIM venture capital trust.
The vehicle invests primarily in AIM-traded companies, and is invested in healthcare, information technology and consumer discretionary companies.
The offer for new subscriptions will open at 10am on February 16.
Back in February 2019 Amati raised £7mn in 90 minutes through a top-up offer for its VCT, and another £40mn during the summer.
Paul Jourdan, chief executive of Amati, told FTAdviser how the firm had to be careful as to how to navigate the high demand seen for VCTs in the last year.
“While it was great to be oversubscribed [on the top-up offer in February], it was difficult to handle all the relationships - we don’t want to upset people trying to invest in our funds.”
The minimum investment is £4,000 and the offer cost is 1 per cent for existing investors and those investing through an intermediary, otherwise it is 3 per cent.
The vehicle’s net asset value per share is 180.72p and the ongoing charges figure is 2.1 per cent, including an annual management fee of 1.75 per cent. There are no performance fees.
Growth fears
Jourdan said the firm is optimistic for the fundraise, despite growth investing having recently fallen out of favour.
“Investors are going to be cognisant of the fact that the ratings of the best growth companies are under pressure, and yes it could happen more, but fighting against that is earnings growth,” he said.
“What we hope we’re delivering in the portfolio of companies is earnings growth which mitigates against that.”
He added that the benefit of having a VCT investing in mainly AIM-quoted companies is that they are very transparent.
“You can easily see what we own, and you can easily find out a lot about the companies because the vast majority of them are public.”
VCTs have become increasingly popular in recent years as a result of generous tax breaks and the potential for income in a low-yield environment.
The vehicles offer investors tax relief of up to 30 per cent of their investment on the first £200,000 invested each year, and dividends and capital gains are also tax-free.
Between April 6 and early January this year £580mn was invested in VCTs with more than three months of the tax year remaining. This compared with £256mn in the previous tax year, according to Wealth Club.
sally.hickey@ft.com
