VCT News
ProVen Growth & Income VCT launches "C" Share offer
28 November 2005 - Beringea, the manager of the ProVen VCT funds, announced today that it has re-opened ProVen Growth & Income VCT for investment with the aim of raising up to £25 million through a "C" share offer.
ProVen Growth & Income VCT (PGI VCT) is the best performing VCT of its launch year*. In addition, PGI VCT won the Investor All-Stars VCT of the Year Award in 2003 and was shortlisted for the same award in 2004. Beringea's ProVen VCT was shortlisted for the 2005 Investment Week and Investor All-Stars VCT of the Year awards. Beringea has also been nominated for VCT Manager of the Year by Professional Adviser.
As well as gaining access to a top performing fund managed by an award winning VCT manager, investors in PGI VCT will benefit from the following features:
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Tender offer to return 25p per share within 3½ years: The directors of PGI VCT aim to return at least 25p (tax-free) per £1 invested to investors, within 3½ years of the offer closing, through a combination of tax-free dividends and a tender offer. When combined with the 40p per share income tax relief on the initial investment, this is intended to reduce the net cost of each £1 invested under the offer to 35p.
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Enhanced dividend yield: A key objective is to pay a regular half-yearly tax-free dividend out of the income generated from portfolio companies and from the sale of these investments. In order to achieve this Beringea will focus on investing in companies where an exit within 3 to 4 years is reasonably foreseeable. Cash dividends paid to shareholders in PGI VCT in its last financial year amounted to 6.5p per share.
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Risk Management: The structure and investment strategy of PGI VCT incorporates a range of features intended to reduce the risk of an investment in the company. One of the most important of these is that PGI VCT is able, where appropriate, to co-invest alongside other funds managed by Beringea, including ProVen VCT. This will enable PGI VCT to invest in larger, more developed companies compared to VCTs which do not have similar co-investment opportunities.
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Realisation Strategy: Beringea intends to give investors a further opportunity to realise their investment by operating a share buy-back policy under which PGI VCT intends to buy-back 'C' shares at a discount to net asset value of no more than 10%.
PGI VCT was launched over four years ago, since when it has made investments in companies including Espresso Broadband, the UK market leader in the provision of broadband multi-media educational resources to primary schools, Zenith Entertainment, the television production company, and restaurant chain Ma Potter's. It has recently enjoyed a number of successful exits including Notability Solutions, which returned 2.4 times the initial investment after only two years, and Copyright Promotions Group and Nectar Taverns, both of which returned 2.5 times the original investment.
Stuart Veale, Managing Director at Beringea comments, "We believe that giving investors the opportunity to subscribe for new shares in one of the best performing VCTs ever is a compelling proposition. The new share offer will provide additional capital to ensure that we can continue to take advantage of a strong pipeline of new investment opportunities."
* Source: www.taxefficientreview.com
About Beringea
Beringea is an international venture capital firm with offices in London and Detroit. In the UK Beringea manages ProVen VCT, ProVen Health VCT, ProVen Growth & Income VCT and Global Rights Fund II. Beringea launched its first VCT in 1996, making it one of the most experienced VCT managers in the UK. ProVen Growth & Income and ProVen VCT are highest performing VCTs of their launch years, respectively, according to www.taxefficientreview.com. For more information please visit www.provenvcts.co.uk.