Fairytale of New York | GBI 06 | December 2017

FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTMENT SPECIALISTS

FAIRY TALE O F N E W YO RK

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GOVERNMENT BACKED - GREAT BRITISH INVESTMENTS - EIS - SEIS - BR - SITR - VCT

GOLDFINCH ENTERTAINMENT EIS • EIS FUND • SEIS • SEIS FUND

Goldfinch Entertainment represents the gold standard in entertainment and media investment

Founded in 2014.

Built and run by a team with enviable industry experience. £60m+ deployed into 105+ projects across Film, TV, Animation, Kids TV, Apps & Video Games.

BAFTA and Oscar winning producers, directors and developers.

Casts have included Orlando Bloom, Bill Nighy, Sir John Hurt, Charles Dance, David Tennant, James Buckley, Brian Cox, Helen Baxendale and Martin Freeman.

Twice shortlisted consecutively for ‘Game Changer’ Growth Investor Award.

Approved EIS vehicles & EIS Fund.

Approved SEIS vehicles & SEIS Fund.

info@goldfinchentertainment.com • www.goldfinchentertainment.com • +0044(0)203 897 8861

Make It Your Business

The tax efficient investment market has changed significantly in recent years.

There has never been a better time to get involved, as high value clients are gaining interest in this sector and it’s exactly where you can add tangible value.

Complex structures and investments with higher risk profiles mean that clients would benefit from your advice. Without it, they may invest anyway and could make ill-informed decisions, whilst dis-intermediating you from the process and reducing your revenue potential.

Whether you’re already advising on SEIS, EIS, BPR or VCT products, or perhaps considering them for your clients’ portfolios then contact us at GrowthInvest. We’ll show you how you can consolidate historic investments onto our platform and build a diversified portfolio from a wide range of managed fund or single company investments. Through our intuitive online platform you’ll be able to offer your clients exclusive access to real portfolio growth, secure in the knowledge that these government-backed schemes offer unique tax efficiencies.

Visit us to learn about the products, the pitfalls and how best to advise on this dynamic and evolving sector.

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Find out more at growthinvest.com

STOCKING UP So, has Santa been good to you this year?

No, I know he hasn’t officially turned up yet, but it surely doesn’t take a lot of guesswork to figure out what’s in the parcels under this year’s tree?

Chancellor Philip Hammond gave us a pretty good sneak preview of the coming year in his Budget on 22 November, when he confirmed that the Finance Bill currently being discussed contains the essence of a wholesale reform of the risk investment business.

The Patient Capital Review has produced a reform that should create enormous new opportunities for advisers in the new tax year. It’s a reform that’s likely to put an equally wholesale booster rocket behind the risk investment sector. (£20 billion worth of boost, if you believe the figures. We don’t, entirely, but it’s still quite a lot.)

And then, if the heavenly choirs give it their blessing, it’s a reform that will allow pension funds to move legitimately into the higher-risk sector. Along with the wealthy clients who are already hurrying in because the life time allowance has frozen them out of the conventional pension routes.

Naughty or Nice?

But first, Santa wants to know who’s been thinking good thoughts and who’s been bad. From 6 April, the Chancellor says investors can put £2 million a year into EIS, which will entitle them to a whopping £600,000 in upfront tax cashbacks. For investee companies, the annual limit that they can raise from EIS or VCT funds goes up from £5 million to £10 million - but only on condition that the investors’ money goes into “knowledge-intensive” companies.

And not to the defensive capital preservation vehicles that, according to the Treasury, were still accounting for 62% of all EIS fund investment earlier this year.

So what happens to those naughty children who don’t want to forswear their capital preservation set-ups?

Well, take the warnings with a pinch of salt, because they might still get away with it. The Treasury says that it’ll review each capital-defensive case on its merits, and if it thinks there’s enough real, rooting-tooting muscular risk in their business propositions, then it’ll give them a capital risk pass and they’ll get their tax breaks. So not all of that 62% that’s invested in capitalpreservation vehicles will necessarily be shunted out into the cold.

primary emphasis of the sector swinging away from tax effectiveness and back toward proper, sleeves-rolledup entrepreneurialism and innovation, where it belongs.

Britain’s small-company leadership, particularly in technology, is an undisputed champion in Europe - the lardy business structures of Germany or France have nothing to compare with it. Let’s keep it that way.

VCTs, for their part, have been landed with a dozen new requirements, mainly helpful and liberating, but they’re going to have a lot of work to do if they’re to get all their thank-you letters written by Easter. (Which falls in the same week as the new tax year.) As for SEIS – well, as you’ll read on page 24, the jury’s still out.

Pensions? Surely Not? Don’t panic, nobody’s going to let your clients’ pension funds gorge themselves on a lot of highly spiced food that they’ll only regret eating tomorrow. Any moves toward allowing a limited foray into risk investment are very much in the early stages. If nothing else, though the changes do reflect an appropriate acceptance that the borderlines between pensions and risk investment are becoming blurry. Particularly for wealthier clients.

Meanwhile in the Bleak Midwinter…

Outside the window, of course, it’s still a bitter spell of winter weather, with UK consumer spending faltering and with the prospect of higher interest rates putting a damper on some smaller companies. The agonising over Britain’s protracted departure from the EU has made it harder than usual to estimate how businesses’ export potential will work out after March 2019, and even the most recent upturn in the battered strength of sterling has been worrying some exporters.

Challenges come and challenges go. We can live with that, surely? Besides, our EIS and VCT clients are in it for the medium to long haul, and they tend not to be fazed by the short-term limitations of longer-term commitments. The Patient Capital reform has got common sense written all over it.

Michael Wilson, Editor in Chief

Hark the Herald Angels GB Investments is proud to have been rooting for this essential change in the alternative investment climate for the last year, and it’s thrilling to see the

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER • 1 Editor’s Welcome

Michael Wilson, Editor In Chief

News

A round up of industry news

CHAPTER • 2 The New Kids on the Block

An investment showcase bringing you the newest offerings from the sector

The Exiteers

Bringing you news of successful exits in the sector

Film Club: Fairytale of New York

Training the lens on investments with movie star qualities

Technical Connections: The pitfalls in searching for a ‘Tax Alpha’ solution

Edward Grant, Director at Technical Connections, explains the pitfalls and benefits of investing in EIS and VCTs

Patient Capital: A new dawn?

Editor Mike Wilson, gives us the run down from the November Budget

Wealth Club: Why VCT and EIS are an investment necessity

Wealth Club Chief Executive Alex Davies reveals the alternative investments he’s putting his clients, and his own money, into

Deepbridge: Brexit debacle: how alternative investing makes all the difference

Andrew Aldridge, Head of Marketing at Deepbridge Capital, says alternative investments will be needed more than ever post-Brexit

CHAPTER • 3 Open Offers

Our monthly listing of what’s currently available for subscription

GBI Magazine is published by IFA Magazine Publications Ltd, Arcade Chambers, 8 Kings Road, Bristol BS8 4AB

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Telephone: +44 (0) 1179 089686 Editor-in-Chief: Michael Wilson editor@ifamagazine.com City Editor: Neil Martin neil.martin@ifamagazine.com

Commissioning Editor: Michelle McGagh Publishing director: Alex Sullivan alex.sullivan@ifamagazine.com Design: The Wow Factory www.thewowfactory.co.uk

Full subscription details and eligibility criteria are available at www.gbinvestments.co.uk ©2017. All rights reserved.

Full subscription details and eligibility criteria are available at www.gbinvestments.co.uk

GBI Magazine is for professional advisers only.

GBI Magazine is a trademark of IFA Magazine Publications Limited. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in any printed or electronic retrieval system without prior permission.

All material has been carefully checked for accuracy, but no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, independent research and where necessary legal advice should be sought before acting on any information contained in this publication.

What do we mean by ‘government backed’?

In the interests of clarity, any reference made by GB Investments to the point that EIS, VCTs and similar investments are government backed relates to the government’s general approval of these schemes, indicated by their having granted them highly tax advantaged status. The use of this term does not imply that government would in any way act in the capacity as a guarantor or backer of last resort in connection with such schemes.

News

Deepbridge: “seeking to return EIS/SEIS investments back to how they were originally envisaged” Andrew Aldridge, Head of Marketing at Deepbridge Capital, on the announcement by the Chancellor Philip Hammond, regarding the government’s response to its ‘Financing growth in innovative firms’ consultation and the new measures specific to EIS/SEIS: “As anticipated the consultation response to ‘Financing growth in innovative firms’ is seeking to return EIS/SEIS investments back to how they were originally envisaged, and the new principles-based ‘risk to capital’ test is designed to ensure that the propositions only invest in those businesses which are deemed to be ‘knowledge intensive’, have the capacity to grow quickly and are not simply low-risk tax shelters.

“We are fully supportive of this and while it will be interesting to see how this new test works in practise, and what types of business are excluded from EIS/ SEIS as a result, our own focus

on investing in companies active in both the technology and life sciences sectors would appear to fit neatly into this repositioning.

Clearly, for those businesses that do qualify – and investors willing to invest in them – there are some major positives from the new measures including a doubling of the investment limits for EIS. “To our mind, EIS/SEIS investment is all about supporting highly innovative firms who have the potential for rapid growth, in some of the most exciting business sectors in the UK. Our propositions will continue to do just that and we feel today’s announcement by the Chancellor confirms the future for these products and clarifies the direction Deepbridge has taken, and the firms we continue to support, are the right ones. We are pleased that the Chancellor’s clear definition of ‘the spirit of EIS’ matches our own.”

CHF comments on boost for Animation EIS in Patient Capital Review CHF Media said it was delighted that Philip Hammond’s Budget reaffirmed the commitment from the government to back genuine Enterprise investments, reconfirming CHF Media Fund’s status as offering investment in the true spirit of EIS.

to have been indirectly mentioned in the Patient Capital review document and thereby having our business model endorsed, which is a real testament to all that we have achieved over the past three years with our fundraising into the CHF Media Fund.”

CHF was also delighted to read in the Patient Capital Review Response document that animation was identified as a qualifying trade going forward under the revised EIS eligibility criteria.

Mark Brownridge, Director General of EISA said: “Interesting that Her Majesty’s Treasury give animation as one of their eligible examples of qualifying trades under the new conditions.” As the Patient Capital Review response document says, “an investment in an animation production company to develop, market and exploit a series of new characters would qualify for EIS relief.”

Adrian Wilkins, Chief Executive of CHF Media, commented: “The Budget was great news for our fund, our investors and our business ethos. We are delighted

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With over 200 years of combined experience of sector-focused investing in growth businesses, Deepbridge works with clients to design innovative products, inducing direct investment in technology and life sciences innovation as well as asset-backed renewable energy projects.

Deepbridge partners with experienced management teams to help the underlying investee companies realise their potential with the target of building successful leading-edge businesses.

Everything Deepbridge does is underpinned by commercial experience in the sectors in which they operate and a culture of professional excellence and integrity.

Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS*

Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS*

Deepbridge Inheritance Tax Service*

Invests in technology companies with the potential for significant capital growth. Offering a diversified approach across energy and resource innovation, medical technology and specialist IT solutions sectors.

Invests in a portfolio of healthcare innovations, targeting significant capital growth, operating in the bioscience, pharmaceutical and medical technology industries.

The Deepbridge Inheritance Tax Service is a discretionary investment management service that invests in asset-backed renewable energy opportunities, targeting a 6% yield p.a. after the second year.

Deepbridge Sci-Tech Daresbury SEIS*

Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS*

Early-stage investment in emerging technology companies based at the renowned science and innovation campus at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

Access to a diversified portfolio of innovative and disruptive early stage companies operating in the bioscience, pharmaceutical, medical technology and healthcare industries.

01244 746000 www.deepbridgecapital.com Deepbridge House, Honeycomb East, Chester Business Park, Chester, CH4 9QN Deepbridge Advisers Limited is an appointed representative of Sapia Partners LLP (‘Sapia’), a firm authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA), with FCA registration number 550103. Deepbridge Advisers Limited registered office is at 5th floor, 55 King Street, Manchester M2 4LQ.

* Risk warning – Generally the underlying investments of these propositions are likely to be both illiquid and high risk, not suitable for all investors and investors should not consider investing unless they can afford the full loss of their investment. As EIS / SEIS investments are often illiquid there is likely to be limited information as to their value. This document is a financial promotion for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and has been approved by Sapia Partners LLP. Interested Investors should seek independent advice before considering investing. This document does not constitute financial, tax or investment advice.

Applications are only accepted on the basis of suitability and qualification criteria. Please refer to the full disclaimer and risk section in the respective Information Memorandum for further details.

140986233/02

“Deepbridge is in the vanguard of EIS Managers, the personnel are seasoned and, in some cases, eminent, bringing cross-sector expertise in technology and private equity.” ALLENBRIDGE LTD: TAX SHELTER REPORT ISSUE 250

News

EISA Autumn Budget Summary on EIS and VCT

EISA Director General Mark Brownridge outlined the tax changes announced in the Budget which are (from April 2018 and in line with state aid rules): • The annual investment limit for EIS investors will be doubled from £1 million to £2 million, provided that any amount above £1 million is invested in knowledge-intensive companies.

• The annual investment limit for knowledgeintensive firms will be doubled from £5 million to £10 million through the EIS and by VCTs. • Greater flexibility will be provided for knowledgeintensive companies over how the age limit is applied for when a company must receive its first investment through the schemes. Knowledgeintensive companies will be able to choose whether to use the current test of the date of first commercial sale or the point at which turnover reached £200,000 to determine when the 10-year period has begun.

A new knowledge-intensive EIS approved fund structure will be consulted upon, with further incentives provided to attract investment.

From Royal Assent of Finance Bill 2017-18, a principles-based test will be introduced into the tax-advantaged venture capital schemes. The new test will ensure that the schemes are focused towards investment in companies seeking investment for their long-term growth and development. The new test will not affect independent, entrepreneurial companies seeking to expand. Tax-motivated investments, where the tax relief provides all or most of the return for an investor with limited risk to the original investment

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(i.e. preserving an investors’ capital) will no longer be eligible. The government has published a note explaining how the test will work, as an annex to the consultation response. Draft guidance will be published by HMRC alongside the draft publication of the Finance Bill.

Changes will be made to the VCT scheme rules: • From 6 April 2018 certain historic rules that provide more favourable conditions for some VCTs (“grandfathered” provisions) will be removed.

• From 6 April 2018, VCTs will be required to invest at least 30% of funds raised in qualifying holdings within 12 months after the end of the accounting period.

• From Royal Assent of the Finance Bill, a newanti-abuse rule will be introduced to prevent loans being used to preserve and return equity capital to investors. Loans will be have to be unsecured and will be assessed on a principled basis. Safe harbour rules will provide certainty to VCTs using debt investments that return no more than 10% on average over a five year period.

• With effect on and after 6 April 2019, the percentage of funds VCTs must hold in qualifying holdings will increase to 80% from 70%.

• With effect on and after 6 April 2019 the period VCTs have to reinvest gains will be doubled from six months to twelve months.

The government will change the Entrepreneurs’ Relief rules to ensure that entrepreneurs are not discouraged from seeking external investment.

News

First Finance Durham Fund incubator investment The Finance Durham Fund, managed by w, has made its first incubator investment.

The beneficiary of £40,000 is Moralbox, a technology startup which helps employers and employees to work together to manage training records. The money will help Moralbox to develop the technology platform’s functionality, enabling the business to enter new markets, promote the software and employ a full time sales team.

The investment fund was launched earlier this year by Business Durham, the economic development organisation for County Durham, on behalf of Durham County Council.

Based at the Spectrum Business Park in Seaham, Moralbox has designed a web-based software platform which creates a centralised training and certification profile of each employee. This helps employers analyse and manage their workforce training records and staff certification programmes, saving them time and money.

The founders, Gordon MacPherson Jnr, Gordon MacPherson Snr and John Dunnill, have between them

The Maven team outside their Durham City Park office

almost 50 years’ experience in health and safety training management and software development. They have a great balance of industry experience, IT knowledge and a strong contact base to grow the business and continually adapt the platform.

The funding was secured through the £20 million Finance Durham fund from the 10% of the fund which has been ring-fenced specifically for incubator investments to support innovation.

Investment Associate of Maven Ben Jones, said: “We’re delighted to support Moralbox’s growth plans at this stage in the company’s development. The team at Moralbox has identified a clear gap in the market and demonstrated that there’s a real need for the technology they’ve developed across a wide range of business sectors. This is a great fit for an investment from the part of the fund allocated to support innovation. We look forward to helping more companies like Moralbox expand through an incubator investment.”

Chief Executive of Moralbox Gordon MacPherson Jnr added: “We’re delighted to secure an

incubator investment to support the innovation and growth of our business. We’re passionate about our technology and believe we’ve created a system that will revolutionise the way employers manage their training. The funding will allow us to scale up by employing extra sales staff to market our product and enter new markets as well as further develop the functionality of our software to meet the changing needs of the customers we supply to. The Finance Durham Fund is pivotal to the development of small businesses like ours and we’re pleased to benefit from it.”

Councillor Carl Marshall, Durham County Council’s Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Economic Regeneration, said: “It’s vitally important we support our fledgling businesses in County Durham as we look to build the county’s economy around the next generation of business leaders. We hope this £40,000 will not only accelerate Moralbox’s growth, but also generate a return on our investment which will be used to provide further opportunities for other businesses in the future.”

Interim managing director of Business Durham Sarah Slaven added: “We’re always keen to support innovation in County Durham and this funding will allow Moralbox to combine the experience and skills of its founders and reach new markets by developing this exciting technology further. Durham is home to many innovative companies which are able to take advantage of a range of support from finance, links with universities and links to the thriving network of like-minded business people in the county.

We look forward to continuing our support for Moralbox as the company grows.”

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News

Goldfinch successfully exits Media investment specialist Goldfinch Entertainment has successfully exited its flagship EIS vehicle Goldfinch Pictures, a sales and distribution company that provides services and sales advances for UK Film and TV investment.

Goldfinch said in a statement that it returned 23% to original Goldfinch investors, following the successful exit of the Goldfinch Pictures Limited EIS. Goldfinch Pictures invested in a number of notable hits in recent years, including: Le Mans: Racing is Everything A ground-breaking cinema documentary about the 24-hour epic French motor race, filmed with unprecedented access to six of the teams competing for glory. Originally shot as a film, the project was sold to Amazon and re-cut into an original branded TV series on the Prime platform. The feature-length film also received a theatrical release through Vue cinemas; You Can Tutu The directorial debut of James Brown, producer of multi award-winning Still Alice. The film is the story of 11-year-old Tutu, a gifted dancer who struggles to fit into her new town and her strict new ballet class.

A heart-warming family film about one girl’s dream of dancing in the lead, and the realisation that the only way to do this is by believing that you can.

Goldfinch secured a deal with the Sky Store to release it in the UK, whilst also releasing it online through Apple and Amazon; Hector A film starring the awardwinning Peter Mullan, covering the story of Hector, a homeless man who embarks on a road trip across the UK. A portrait of an invisible man and an

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authentic account of homelessness within contemporary Britain, Hector is a powerful character study and a brutally honest account of homelessness.

After a successful film festival run, the film was released in cinemas throughout England, Scotland, and France; resulting in a deal for the film to be sold to Netflix and British Airways.

Alongside these successes Goldfinch has participated in a variety of award-winning films, including James Erskine’s Building Jerusalem; Mad to be Normal starring David Tennant; Hector with Peter Mullan; Burn, Burn, Burn starring Laura Carmichael; My Feral Heart with Steven Brandon; Adult Life Skills starring Jodie Whittaker, The Carer starring Brian Cox, Solis starring Steven Ogg, and That Good Night starring Sir John Hurt and Charles Dance.

Managing Director and Founder of Goldfinch Kirsty Bell said: “Starting four years ago began with the vision of bringing business principals, transparency and use vanilla structures to the film and media industry, to show that you can make money from investing in this asset class. Now we are very proud to say we have proven a point and will continue to do so in a new and exciting world of film and media investment and opportunities.

“Creating and selling a film, TV show or video game is an immensely difficult job requiring an array of skills and people.

The support and infrastructure we can offer via Goldfinch is incredibly well received, and required, in order to efficiently and profitably produce high-quality productions that make money.

“The media industry is one of the biggest drivers of the UK economy and we are seen to be one of the global leaders in the sector. As a successful and savvy investor, we take control of the business cycle to retain control from script to sale. Our approach reduces fees and risk, the success of which can be seen from our initial exit of the Goldfinch Pictures Limited EIS. We view this approach as the gold standard in media investment.”

News

Africa calling

Brighton-based Every1Mobile, a developer of a mobile communications platform that helps to deliver measurable socioeconomic inclusion programmes at scale across Africa, has been given a £2.2 million boost from private equity firm Calculus Capital, a leading EIS and VCT investor.

The company provides digital communication solutions and online community management to large corporates and international development agencies.

The Calculus investment will help Every1Mobile to continue development of its platform technology and increase the geographical scope and scale of its work.

inclusion from the periphery to the very centre of their commercial strategy – helping their customers become healthier, better educated and able to earn a living is good for the balance sheet. And the huge penetration of mobile phones and increasing access to the internet provides an unprecedented opportunity to reach the bottom of the pyramid and emerging middle class on behalf of corporates and international development agencies alike.

“Having Calculus Capital as an investor will be a great asset as we take on more projects across more geographies and with greater scale. The expertise of the

Calculus team in advising and guiding growing companies will be extremely valuable to us.”

Alexander Crawford, Investment Director at Calculus Capital added: “Every1Mobile is doing important work across subSaharan Africa, engaging and developing communities in key areas and in measurable ways. Williams and the senior team at Every1Mobile have demonstrated that the use of mobile technology can transform how socio-economic inclusion programmes are delivered. There are very significant cost and efficiency benefits and they have created a world leading platform, specifically tailored for the task.”

Every1Mobile has delivered programmes across South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Rwanda.

These initiatives help to achieve key development goals in areas such as sexual health, digital and financial literacy, business skills, family planning, gender and nutrition.

Every1Mobile Chief Executive Algy Williams said: “In emerging markets, major corporates are now moving socio-economic

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THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK An investment showcase bringing you the newest offerings from the sector Investment: Amati VCT and Amati VCT2 Aim: To invest long-term in innovative AIM-quoted companies

Tell us about the fund

How much is being raised?

Amati VCT and Amati VCT2 are AIM-based VCTs. The boards of the VCTs are currently considering whether a merger of both companies would be in the best interests of shareholders, and discussions are ongoing.

The Amati VCTs are intending to launch a joint fundraising with a prospectus later this year, to raise in the region of ÂŁ20 million between both trusts, whether a merger is proposed or not.

The Amati VCTs aim to make long-term investments in innovative businesses which have the potential to become successful AIM-quoted growth companies.

They seek to identify the most promising of the next generation of AIM companies, which raise money and which qualify for VCT investment, to provide them with capital at an early stage of their development, and to support them as long term shareholders throughout their growth.

It takes time to build up a portfolio of successful and dynamic businesses, and both VCTs have substantially achieved this goal with a significant number of companies in the portfolios reporting results showing rapid growth.

The Amati VCTs are managed by a team of three fund managers, whose track record of being able to identify the most promising early-stage growth companies on AIM has been recognised in a number of industry awards over the past two years. Dr Paul Jourdan is the co-founder of Amati Global Investors, and has been managing Amati VCTs since 2005. Doug Lawson is also a co-founder of Amati, and has been managing Amati VCTs since 2009. David Stevenson joined the team in 2012.

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What types of investments are being sought?

The Amati VCTs look to maintain portfolio diversification through investing in as broad a range of qualifying deals as pipeline allows. Subsequent to the tightening of VCT qualifying rules in November 2015, the mix of available deal flow has moved towards earlier stage companies, and has been dominated roughly equally by technology and healthcare opportunities. There have, however, also been a small number of consumer and industrial based proposals.

Going forward, it is likely that Amati’s investment activity will continue to focus on early stage sectors such as technology (both hardware and software, featuring buoyant areas like app development, data management, fintech, adtech and healthtech), healthcare (new drugs and medical devices), new energy (storage and distribution), emergent consumer brands (retail, leisure and consumer goods) and industrial technology (new materials and processes).

What is the minimum investment? £4,000 minimum investment in either VCT or £2,500 in both, i.e. £5,000

What is the targeted return?

The Amati VCTs do not publish targeted total returns but aim to generate tax-free dividends, targeted at 5-6% of year-end net asset value, although there is no guarantee the targets will be met.

Provide details of the top three fund holdings Frontier Frontier Developments is a videogames publisher. Its founder, David Braben, coauthored Elite, a popular 1980s video game, which was originally published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers. He went on to set-up Frontier to create and develop games for the world’s largest gaming companies, such as Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (Playstation), before deciding to transition Frontier back into higher margin self-publishing.

The first step towards this movement was the re-launch of Elite in 2014 under the title ‘Elite:Dangerous’. This turned the original game into a multi-player, virtual reality enabled space epic encompassing 400 billion star systems. The re-launch of Elite was followed by the release of Planet Coaster, the group’s second franchise, in 2016.

Frontier recently announced its third selfpublished game franchise, based on Universal Pictures’ blockbuster movie Jurassic World , to be launched simultaneously on PC, PlayStation and Xbox in summer 2018. The Amati VCTs invested in Frontier in 2013 shortly before its AIM IPO, at a pre new money valuation of £25 million.

The investment was made using a convertible loan, which converted into equity at a discount to the listing price at the time of the IPO. The current market capitalisation is c.£350 million.

Quixant Quixant designs and manufactures complete hardware and software solutions for the slotgaming industry. The company’s products are PC compatible systems that are designed and tuned to meet the complex needs of the gaming industry.

Quixant was founded in 2005, launching its first product in the same year and listing on AIM in 2013. The company is based in Cambridge, with subsidiaries in Rome and Las Vegas and a manufacturing plant in Taiwan.

In November 2015, Quixant acquired Densitron Technologies, adding electronic display solutions to its products. This combination is addressing Quixant’s customers’ desire to deal with a small number of trusted component suppliers and opens up new customer bases for Quixant’s core technology. Outsourcing can deliver substantial cost savings for gaming machine manufacturers, and consolidation amongst Quixant’s customers is putting increased momentum behind this trend.

Once Quixant has been established as a supplier, the highly-regulated nature of the industry tends to lead to strong, longterm customer relationships, as a change of supplier leads to renewed regulatory scrutiny.

The Amati VCTs invested at the time of IPO, at a valuation of c.£30 million. The current market capitalisation is c.£290 million.

Keywords Studios Keywords provide outsourced services to the video games industry. They provide art creation, audio and functional testing, localisation, localisation testing and customer support services in over 50 languages and all games platforms to publishers of video games.

The company was founded in 1998 and now has 2,800 permanent staff (flexing to over 4,000 at peak times), with facilities spread across Europe, North and South America, and Asia, providing services to 23 of the top 25 games companies by revenue, including Tencent, Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts and Nintendo.

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THE EXITEERS Bringing you news of successful exits in the sector Fund: Jenson Funding Partners Exit: Twizoo

Details of the fund Jenson invested in Twizoo in February 2014, via our first SEIS fund. The investment remit of the Jenson Funding Partners (JFP) SEIS is to invest in digital opportunities that can demonstrate a solution or opportunity in any sector. Twizoo did this. When Twizoo first came to JFP, it was to fund full access to the Twitter data, user acquisition marketing and to strengthen the development and sales team, along with launching a beta version of the product and validation of the business model.

JFP’s SEIS was launched in 2012 and raised £5.5 million of investment capital. It invested in 35 companies, of which Twizoo was one. The investment in Twizoo was held from inception in 2014 until the exit in October 2017. At the time JFP did not have an EIS to help with the follow on funding required and therefore Downing and EC1 Capital were bought in to provide additional funding. JFP now has an EIS to provide the follow on funding for existing SEIS investee companies.

What does the company do?

Twizoo is a social content platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically discover and display engaging, high-converting social media content.

In layman’s terms Twizoo, very cleverly, gathered, filtered and organised information in real time from Twitter feeds. The information being gathered could be targeted at specific themes and Twizoo chose to focus on the restaurant and bar sector.

The company had spotted a market opportunity that gave people looking for places to eat ‘current’ information and opinions on restaurants in their locality.

There are up to seven-times more customer ‘review’ Tweets about a restaurant for every single TripAdvisor, Yelp or Google Review – the challenge for Twitter and non-Twitter users was to be able to access this information in a usable format. The app provided a way of accessing this information in a manageable way.

Twizoo was developed at the same time that there had been growing criticism of the existing

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evaluation sites and questions were being raised about the legitimacy of their reviews, and the editing of content by selecting and deletion of postings, questions that Twizoo sought to answer by providing real time content. Their pitch was: ‘To challenge existing review sites by reducing the need for the isolated review content that these sites are dependent on’.

When JFP first saw this investment opportunity it realised that this was an exciting company for a variety of reasons: the model was scalable, with the ability to launch quickly in new areas. Indeed, after starting off in London, Twizoo was able to roll out across other UK cities and then US cities.

The team was also planning to take something very complicated and create an intuitive user experience focused around simplicity and ease of use.

What did the company invest the money in?

The seed capital was used to launch the beta version of the product and validate the business model.

Once this had been achieved, the vision was to expand into other verticals as the technology was considered portable to generate data visualisations within any vertical.

The seed investment that was made into the company allowed it to launch the product, enabling them to go forward and raise the EIS capital needed to accelerate the growth strategy.

Madeline Parra, Chief Executive and Co-founder of Twizoo said: “As our first investor, the Jenson SEIS and EIS fund gave us the opportunity to prove our proposition to the market and helped to get us on our journey which has now culminated into the acquisition by Skyscanner.”

How much was raised?

The company raised an initial £150,000 SEIS from Jenson. Given that at this point the Jenson focus

was on SEIS investments Twizoo raised EIS capital, which was provided by an EIS fund which also bought a venture capital fund alongside. During this time, Twizoo morphed from a content-driven company to a data-collector company. The data collated from Twitter was of a quality that enabled their ultimate purchaser to add valuable information to their clients’ decision making when booking holidays or trips abroad through their extensive industry network.

How was the exit achieved?

The transition from the app-based model to a data-collector proved successful and several large customers were signed up. This ultimately proved that booking conversion rates could be raised by single digit percentages, creating a significant increase in revenues on the large volumes that go through travel sites.

Skyscanner saw Twizoo as a tool to help Skyscanner share direct, honest and transparent information with its customers.

The exit was achieved by way of a trade sale. 100% of the shareholdings of Twizoo have been acquired

by Skyscanner.

How much was returned to investors?

The terms of the deal are confidential; therefore we are unable to give any information on the actual figures involved. However, we can confirm that the investors received a significant uplift on their original investment.

What other benefits has the company provided?

Twizoo’s technology used ‘social listening’ via twitter to develop user-generated recommendations giving it users an unbiased review of an experience.

The company has grown from the two founders to a team of six and has now integrated with the larger Skyscanner team.

How will you continue to support the company?

This is a 100% acquisition of the company and we therefore are no longer part of the decisionmaking process although we continue to watch the company’s progress with interest.

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FILM CLUB Turning the lens on investments with movie star qualities Manager: Ober Private Clients Limited Investment Opportunity: Fairytale Films Limited

Tell us about the investment?

Fairytale Films Limited (The Company) holds the rights to, and is producing, Fairy Tale of New York (The Film), which is based upon the backstory to the popular Christmas song of the same name.

Developed by a world-class production team, the quality of the film promises to be high. The crew is led by award winning director Lee Cleary (The Hurt Locker, X-Men franchise, Valkyrie, The A-Team), writer Jeff Murphy (The Concert Pianist, The Long Journey), and producer Lisa Katselas (Richard III, Mrs Dalloway).

The film stars an internationally recognisable cast, whom are also equity holders and passionate about its success, including Keifer Sutherland and Kate Bosworth, as well as at least two other A-List actors.

In addition to the income from the sale of the film, the company aims to generate other revenues from ancillary sources such as brand integration, music soundtrack, merchandise, digital exploitation, film sequels and television spin-offs.

The company has been structured as a special purpose vehicle for Fairy Tale of New York and all related commercial activities. The EIS investment is made directly into the company rather than as part of a fund, which means that investors gain the benefit of having their EIS3 certificates applied for within a matter of days after the completion of their investment. The investment is offered exclusively

by Ober Private Clients Limited (Ober).

What films are in production?

Based upon the backstory to the popular Christmas song of the same name, the film tells

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the story of the whirlwind romance between Irish comedian Sean and New York gallery owner Kirsty and takes place across the contrasting landscapes of the idyllic landscapes of Ireland and the bustling atmosphere of New York City.

The pair are brought together through a beautifully haunting photograph of an isolated train station against the backdrop of a surrealist landscape, which sets the tone for a film full of love, loss and life that intends to connect to and appeal to a wide variety of audiences.

With an award-winning production team and crew, as well as an internationally recognised A-List cast, a strong script and well-known brand, the filmmakers are confident Fairy Tale of New York will be a major success.

What film characteristics should investors look out for?

Given the popularity of the song, Fairy Tale of New York which was sung by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl, being rated as the most popular Christmas song of the 21st century by VH1, The Hits, Music Factory, BBC Radio 2 and BBC 4, the film is confidently expected to achieve a high-profile release and attract a strong following.

The established global fan-bases of the main cast, who are incentivised by their equity and their passion for the film to promote it heavily, should also assist to generate sales and draw a broad audience of both male and female, as well as a wide age-range. These factors, which contribute to driving international sales, are of significant value to investors, to give the best chance of maximising revenues.

The position is further augmented by a strategy to generate ancillary income, through the monetisation of soundtrack, merchandise, digital content, film sequels and television spin-offs.

From a cost perspective, the substitution of most fees for producers, cast and crew, helps to reduce the breakeven threshold of the film, which in turn lowers investor risk. At the same time, the equity stakes held by the key people attached to the film further incentivises them to do the best job possible when making the film and in promoting it.

The priority return mechanism within the company’s structure is also an attractive proposition for investors, in so far as it attributes 100% of the returns to investors until such time they have received a return of 130% on gross capital (ignoring tax reliefs). Investors also share in all further revenues and their position is uncapped.

What is the minimum investment?

There is a minimum investment of £25,000 with no maximum investment.

How much has been raised?

Ober seek advanced assurance from HM Revenue & Customs for each EIS opportunity they offer, and though it does not guarantee EIS tax relief it gives a good indicator once an investor applies. Ober targets an ambitious amount of returns, and the fee structure replicates this.

An example: A two-time return based upon £25,000 invested; • £25,000 invested.

• £1,250 procurement fee paid to Ober.

• 30% income tax relief claimed - £3,750.

• Investment valued at £55,000 upon exit.

• Ober receive £7,500 performance fee.

• Investor receives £47,500 net – and has already reclaimed £3,750 tax relief meaning a gross amount of £50,000 has been received / reclaimed after all fees.

A three-time return would mean the higher performance fee at 30% would kick in, working as follows; • £25,000 invested.

£1.6 million has been raised to date out of a maximum capacity of £3.6 million.

• £1,250 procurement fee paid to Ober.

What return can investors expect?

• Investment valued £90,000 upon exit.

Ober Private Clients only offer growth-focused opportunities so returns will be in the form of capital gains. Ober has a performance fee that only kicks in after investors have at least doubled their gross investment, ignoring all tax relief.

• Ober receive £19,500 performance fee.

• 30% income tax relief claimed - £3,750.

• Investor receives £70,500 net – and has already reclaimed £3,750 tax relief meaning a gross amount of £73,000 has been received / reclaimed after all fees.

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FILM CLUB

What are the risks?

Why is the UK film industry important?

As is the case with all growth-focused EIS products, there are no guaranteed revenues and investors’ capital is at risk.

The UK film industry is renowned and respected throughout the world, second only to US/Hollywood.

It has produced some of the best talent both in front of the camera and behind it as evidenced by continuing success at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and other prestigious awards and festivals.

With the aim of mitigating risk, Ober has selected the film based upon a range of factors, including the strength of the brand of the underlying Christmas song of the same name. This together with the film’s Christmas release should drive audience numbers and sales, not only in the UK but also throughout many of the other major territories in the world, including across the US and Canada.

There is no debt in the company, and the other parts of the financing plan come from non-repayable tax credits, which again strengthens the investor position and assists to reduce risk.

As a popular form of alternative investment, film offers a degree of diversity within an investor’s portfolio. The sector typically performs consistently and delivers growth, irrespective of economic conditions and stock market volatility.

Investors into UK film are able to benefit from a range of government incentives and tax reliefs, not just through the EIS, but also via the UK film tax credit that is made available to the film production as well as a range of grants and soft-funding routes.

By agreeing terms with the main cast and crew whereby they substitute their fees for equity, it reduces the break-even threshold of the film, which in turn reduces investor risk. Such a mechanism also provides a major incentive to the relevant individuals to maximise the returns from the film.

Alongside the potential financial benefits of investing into UK film, it can also be an enjoyable sector to invest into, with investors typically being able to enjoy the end product and often being able to participate in soft benefits, such as screenings of the film and premieres.

Given the nature of the film, including the strength of its brand and the international profile of its cast, it is not reliant on a certain geographical market or narrow target demographic, on the contrary, it has broad appeal throughout much of the world. In addition to the sales of the film, there is also the opportunity to generate significant ancillary revenues, including from soundtrack, merchandise, digital content, film sequels and television spin-offs.

The BFI reported in 2015 that the film Industry generated roughly £3.6 billion for the UK economy.

This included circa £400 million in tourism, £1 billion going towards production costs for actors and other cast and crew, the creation of over 1,000 jobs being provided and a huge £1.4 billion in multiplier effects including purchases of supplies and services from within the UK and of course workers re-spending their wages and thus contributing towards the UK economy.

In the interests of clarity, any reference made by GB Investments to the point that EIS, VCTs and similar investments are government backed relates to the government’s general approval of these schemes, indicated by their having granted them highly tax advantaged status. The use of this term does not imply that government would in any way act in the capacity as a guarantor or backer of last resort in connection with such schemes.

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P R I VAT E

C L I E N T S

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THE PITFALLS IN SEARCHING FOR A ‘TAX ALPHA’ SOLUTION Edward Grant, Director at Technical Connections, explains the pitfalls and benefits of investing in EIS and VCTs

The perfect storm of opportunity has been a stimulus for alternative investment fund managers over the last decade.

Investors have suffered: • restrictions on pension contributions; • increasing inheritance tax (IHT) burden; •

assets with significant gains being crystallised with a potential tax arbitrage differential.

These have resulted in some clients seeking alternative tax efficient investments to reduce their income tax liability through EIS and VCT. In addition, through an EIS they have also be able to defer their capital gains tax (CGT) liability. This latter opportunity has additional attractions as the rate of deferment (28% or 18%) will reduce to 20% or 10% on EIS crystallisation for all investments other than property and those qualifying for entrepreneurs relief. This assumes that CGT rates remain at current levels.

After holding shares in an EIS for two years, the shares will have benefited from business relief which exempts those assets from IHT liability. So overall EIS and VCT investments offer an attractive

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‘tax alpha’ solution for clients with a suitable high investment risk profile.

These tax alpha opportunities coincided with the fund managers developing retail investor-focused solutions which made the alternative investments accessible to a wider market. Financial planners have increasingly introduced EIS and VCT solutions to clients with a suitable high-risk profile. This rapid growth has brought a greater focus on the sector as the cost to the Treasury has increased. This has led to scrutiny of the qualifying trades and the business plans in the guise of the ‘advance assurance’ process have been harder to secure.

Finally, a performance track record has evolved for the fund managers and their respective trades.

It is always important to remember that ultimately the EIS and VCT providers are fund managers seeking to deliver a positive investment return and should not be reliant on tax reliefs solely to deliver that return. Variability of returns and investment horizon period should be a hallmark of venture capital investments. The desire to mitigate risk has led to the current scrutiny by the Treasury perhaps.

Today renewable energy is no longer a qualifying trade and through subsequent changes the Treasury has sought to increase the risk profile of the allowable qualifying trades

Increasing risk profile For many clients, the introduction to EIS and VCTs has been in the form of renewable energy investments (solar and wind). These generated attractive investment returns, offered tax relief at creation and on exit, with the return of funds generally over a three to four-year period. This type of asset-backed investment set the benchmark for many clients. An investment opportunity where tax relief was available without the exposure to corresponding risk.

Today renewable energy is no longer a qualifying trade and through subsequent changes the Treasury has sought to increase the risk profile of the allowable qualifying trades. This focus on growth and development of businesses resulted in a reduction in supply of EIS and VCTs last tax year.

Writing this article before the Autumn Budget 2017, we are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the Patient Capital Review. Many fund managers have closed their funds early in anticipation of changes in the Budget. Early indications are

that Chancellor Philip Hammond will announce further focus on investments with a growth and develop emphasis.

With changing qualifying company rules fund managers will need to continue to consider new trades. Some of these will be new asset classes for that fund manager and even whilst it may the same asset class for some the potential risk profile may change. This presents additional considerations for financial planners when they prepare their due diligence and panels.

Due diligence dilemma Many providers publish their own due diligence packs which can be a good basis for your research, however, they cannot be the sole research source.

There are many independent providers who offer EIS and VCT analysis which can be purchased or often available from the respective fund manager.

Most of these reviews are reliant on the fund manager supplying answers to questions and/or purchasing the distribution rights when the review is complete.

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Investment under EIS and VCT since inception of the schemes

Source: HM Treasury Financing Growth in Innovative Firms August 2017

This heightens the need for the financial planner or firm to undertake additional due diligence questions to supplement the file. As each tranche is potentially a different trade the review used should be current and not a previous tranche.

With new trades, it is likely that some managers will fail to raise sufficient funds to achieve a diversified portfolio of trades or may allot shares later than expected. These factors will have an impact on the risk profile or time horizon for the client.

Where the trade is new, or perhaps a greater risk profile post the publication of the Patient Capital Review, it is important to ensure that the financial planners due diligence delves into the individual fund manager’s background and experience. Have they run or been involved in funds with this type of asset? For example, there is a big difference running a start-up fund compared to a fund that focuses on second or third wave funding.

What processes and financial analysis is undertaken by the fund manager before investment is made? The experience of the investment committee that oversees the decision-making process will also be crucial.

Most fund managers will have examples of funds that have underperformed. If so what did the fund house learn and what will they do different in the future?

Often it is a new trade or a non-core activity that has not been successful.

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Supply constraints We saw last year a significant reduction in supply of EIS and VCT solutions and it is expected the same again this year. The providers struggled to secure sufficient advance assurances from HM Revenue & Customs in good time and, they found it difficult to identify a flow of qualifying investments.

Some providers returned funds to investors as a result of these issues. As timing is critical with alternative investments having a clear understanding of deal flow and expected trading commencement will have bearing on the time horizon. The three-year minimum investment holding period is in reality moving to four to five plus years. The rolling EIS or VCT concept which many investors identified with will become harder to achieve.

In summary, the Patient Capital Review is likely to continue the growth and development focus which will increase the risk profile of the EIS and VCT funds.

This will mean that although the fund manager has experience in an asset class it is likely that the risk profile of the trade will increase. Due diligence is an active process and needs continual review.

Suitability of advice should not be solely focused on the tax alpha (reliefs) but needs to explore the individual fund risk for your client. This infrequent recommendation is often to the best clients but comes with increasing risk.

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WHY VCT AND EIS ARE AN INVESTMENT NECESSITY Wealth Club chief executive Alex Davies reveals the alternative investments he’s putting his clients, and his own money, into I make no bones about it. The reason I looked at EIS and VCTs in the first place had nothing to do with a love affair with investing in small companies or an altruistic desire to benefit the economy.

No, I invested because of sheer necessity. Successive governments had taken away or worsened every other simple and tax efficient way to save one by one It started with pensions. Then it was buy-to-let and the dividend tax.

You and many of your high-net-worth clients will have probably been on a similar journey. And I suspect if they haven’t already dipped their toes into the world of alternative investments, they are likely do so shortly.

But where should your clients invest? What do they need to look out for? Which is best, EIS or VCTs? And are they just too risky for most?

Of course, investment choices are personal, but to illustrate the options available I thought I would share some of my own recent investments. By the way, we only highlight to our clients opportunities I would be happy to invest in myself – and in many cases I do.

Let’s start with my EIS investments.

The great thing is they are very different from the rest of my portfolio. In most cases they are tangible: I can use them, eat in them, drink in them and, in some cases, listen to them or watch them.

Importantly, all but one are uncorrelated to the stock market or the health of the economy. Indeed, whilst it was the tax relief that got me into these investments, I have ended up investing in some fantastic companies.

My favourite EIS investment this year is Push Doctor.

Feeling poorly? You can have a video appointment with a qualified GP within minutes. It is a bit like Uber but with GPs rather than taxis. I have two young daughters and if they get ill it’s often in the evenings or at the weekend when my GP surgery is out of the the question. So the choice is between spending endless hours in A&E – not ideal on a Friday night – or getting an appointment with a GP online within 20 minutes. There’s no contest in my view. Indeed, I have used the Push Doctor service several times and it has always been fantastic.

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My second investment has been into a company which is re-opening the Truscott Arms pub in Maida Vale, a popular venue which was forced to close because of a sudden hike in rent. It’s a solid investment with a valuable freehold asset behind it, but I can also nip in for a drink or a bite to eat. There is nothing quite like it: you walk past the building and think: ‘I own some of that’. You just don’t feel the same about Vodafone shares. Also when I buy Vodafone shares, I am not adding any value to the economy, I’m essentially just swapping money around with other investors. This pub is going through an extensive refurbishment which will employ numerous tradespeople. When it opens it will employ staff and will buy food and drinks from suppliers. Just a little example of how EIS can have a multiplier effect on the economy.

Another investment was in a new storage business. Sounds boring? Probably, but storage space is in increasing demand and so far such businesses have been recession-proof. Of course there are still risks. The company needs to be managed by competent and experienced people, otherwise you will lose money.

Finally, I have invested in various film and media projects through EIS and SEIS funds. I have helped finance the band that wrote the theme tune for Better Call Saul, the hit Netflix show; The London Gospel Community Choir which, thanks to ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, is now exceedingly famous; and a TV series called GO 8 BIT with the comedian Dara Ó Briain. Not my cup of tea, but I’m in the minority – people seem to love it. When I hear the people at the next table in a coffee shop discussing last night’s show or hear a band I backed on the radio, I can’t help feeling childishly pleased, knowing I’ve helped made that possible.

Where do VCTs fit in?

There are many great things about VCTs – from the initial tax relief to the young and dynamic companies you invest in. But what people like most is probably the tax-free dividends.

I invest in the likes of Mobeus, Maven and Northern which have regularly been thumping out 7%, 8% 9%, 10% tax-free dividends a year. Of course, this

good run could end, but you cannot argue with the appeal of finding a tax-free cheque in the post.

One tip, if you use VCTs alongside a pension to save for retirement, consider automatically re-investing the dividends until you need the income. It is very tempting just to spend them.

Transferring your ISA into a VCT A new and interesting option from Octopus Investments is you can use money in your existing ISAs to invest in the Octopus Titan VCT. So, you can get up to 30% income tax relief without having to invest any new money. Let’s suppose you have an income tax bill of £30,000. If you transfer £100,000 of your existing ISA into the Octopus Titan VCT ISA, you could wipe that £30,000 tax bill out. Also your money remains within an ISA wrapper so if after five years you want to sell the VCT you can do so whilst keeping your money in an ISA.

What about the risks? And which should you choose, EIS or VCTs? There is no doubt VCTs and EIS are higher risk than more mainstream investments. So, you should only invest money you can afford to lose – as a rule of thumb, no more than 10% of your net worth.

But insanely risky they are not.

Take a look at VCTs. A VCT will typically invest in 30 to 70 companies. If that isn’t diversification, I don’t know what is. In addition most investors will spread their investment over different VCT providers, increasing diversification further. With VCTs you also have the advantage of knowing where most of your money goes. When you invest, you become a shareholder in an established portfolio of businesses.

Typically with EIS you move up the risk scale. That said, there are different types of EIS with varying degrees of risk. My preference is to invest in a few high-octane ones along some more predictable businesses. Please note I am writing before the Budget so those arguably less risky investments may no longer be available.

And, of course, with EIS initial income tax relief and loss relief help reduce risk.

To put this in context, consider a top-rate taxpayer with a £30,000 income tax bill. If they invest £100,000 in EIS they could wipe that out.

In the worst-case scenario (and things need to go really wrong), the most they can lose is £38,500 assuming they pay sufficient tax. If you then consider that had they done nothing, they would have ended up effectively automatically losing £30,000 by paying the tax bill, the risks (although not to be dismissed) perhaps seem even less.

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PATIENT CAPITAL: A NEW DAWN? You won’t have missed all the hand-wringing over the last few months about how Chancellor Philip Hammond was going to stamp on low-risk tax-effective investments during the Budget speech that he delivered on 22 November...

Or rather, about how the Treasury’s response to the Buffini report on Patient Capital Reform would put a final lid on capital-heavy investments, property-type investments, and hundreds of ingenious schemes which rely on upfront loss rebates and so forth to subvert the original intention of the EIS and VCT schemes.

So how did it go on Budget day? We’re still examining the small print to work it all out, and we’re not expecting full clarity on every last detail until next April, when the first of the new measures will start to roll in.

But an effective doubling of the risk investment from £1 million to £2 million for investors, and from £5 million to £10 million for investee companies, is a good place to start.

That, actually, is putting it rather mildly. Overall, the Chancellor appears to have completed a body-swerve that has left many players offside and gasping for air. Instead of stamping on the evil transgressors, the Treasury has opted to sideline them by moving the ball to another area of the pitch.

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Indeed, the Chancellor has introduced several entirely new balls to the game, including a fund which aims to bring in £20 billion of new cash over the next 10 years. He has effectively doubled the amount that EIS and Venture Capital Trusts can bring in from risk investments, and he has promised to loosen up the restrictive rules that currently constrain EIS and VCTs from investing in companies whose first activities date back more than 10 years.

Most importantly, perhaps, the Chancellor says he intends to open the way for pension fund money to enter the risk environment via the EIS and VCT market. That’ll be a first for a sector that’s traditionally been focused on security and conservatism; but it reflects an acceptance that

the lowering of the lifetime allowance has created a large pool of money that could be employed in the knowledge-intensive business.

“Knowledge-intensive companies?”

Firstly, on the subject of qualifying investments. We are, of course, talking about the announcement that the annual ceiling for EIS investments is to double next April, from £1 million to £2 million, for what Hammond calls “knowledge-intensive” companies.

Not, please note, for “EIS qualifying companies”, which might not currently be the same thing. A new “principles-based test” is to be unveiled shortly which aims to sort the entrepreneurial wheat from the capital-preserving chaff that the government says is currently accounting for 62% of investment

by EIS funds. (Annex A, HM Treasury’s Consultation Response to the Buffini report “Financing Growth in Innovative Firms”.

The Treasury’s statement on the “risk to capital condition” is blunt: “Tax-motivated investments, where the tax relief provides all or most of the return for an investor with limited risk to the original investment (i.e. preserving an investors’ capital), will no longer be eligible”.

Who’s out in the cold?

So does that mean that EIS and VCT investments that aren’t “knowledge-intensive” (think of film production, racehorses, restaurants etc) will no longer qualify for tax relief? And will the disqualification apply only to new projects, not to existing ones? Here, the Treasury is less clear, and a lot less dogmatic. But so far the omens seem reasonable.

“While some [consultation paper] respondents felt that a lower rate of relief for less innovationfocussed companies would be more appropriate, the government’s intention is that changes announced at this Budget will result in a significant shift away from low-risk investment,” it says. That doesn’t, in itself, suggest any absolutist fatwas on what has gone before.

Also reassuringly, the Treasury stresses that the new measures are not intended to adversely affect the eligibility of a company that “has objectives to grow and develop over the long-term (which mirrors an existing test with the schemes); and whether there is a significant risk that there could be a loss of capital to the investor of an amount greater than the net return”.

And nor does it completely rule out film schemes that rely on pre-agreed income (e.g. pre-sales), just as long as “the investor remains at significant risk”. The Treasury is at pains to make it clear that the unique working patterns of film units (using freelance labour, setting up capital-heavy research labs, etc) won’t affect their eligibility.

In short, it’s abundantly clear that there’s ample scope for case-by-case assessment here. And so we probably won’t be getting any absolute guidelines, but a kind of tort procedure instead. We’ll see how that works out in practice.

Flexibility on age VCTs have had a turbulent time of it in recent years, what with rule changes and alterations to eligibility.

But here, again, there is cheer to be had in the Chancellor’s response to Buffini. With effect from next April, the annual investment limit for knowledgeintensive firms will be doubled from £5 million to £10 million. And that applies to EIS as well, incidentally.

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“Greater flexibility will be provided for knowledgeintensive companies over how the age limit is applied for when a company must receive its first investment through the schemes,” says the Treasury. “Knowledge-intensive companies will be able to choose whether to use the current test of the date of first commercial sale or the point at which turnover reached £200,000 to determine when the 10-year period has begun.”

The Treasury’s language around SEIS is a bit more guarded: “Evidence from the consultation suggests that it works well at incentivising investment into the earliest stage companies (under two years old) but some respondents also suggested it is contributing to valuation bubbles in some sectors.

The government will continue to monitor this.”

Special rules for VCTs Additional changes to the VCT environment are to be phased in over a 16 month period: • From 6 April 2018, certain historic rules that provide more favourable conditions for some VCTs (“grandfathered” provisions) will be removed.

• From 6 April 2018, VCTs will be required to invest at least 30% of funds raised in qualifying holdings within 12 months after the end of the accounting period.

• Immediately upon the Royal Assent of the Finance Bill, a new anti-abuse rule is to be introduced that will prevent loans being used to preserve and return equity capital to investors.

• Loans made to investee companies will be have to be unsecured, and they will be assessed on a principled basis. Safe harbour rules will provide certainty to VCTs using debt investments that return no more than 10% on average over a five year period.

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• With effect from 6 April 2019, the percentage of funds VCTs must hold in qualifying holdings will increase from 70% to 80%.

• With effect from 6 April 2019 the period VCTs have to reinvest gains will be doubled from six months to 12 months.

Ian Sayers, Chief Executive of the Association of Investment Companies, was perhaps less than effusive about some of the changes. “It’s reassuring that private investors will continue to receive the existing tax-reliefs on VCT investments,” he says, adding that “this will help VCTs provide vital scale-up capital for the UK’s most innovative and ambitious smaller companies”.

He added: “However, the Chancellor has announced significant VCT rule changes, and we need to consult with our VCT members, their managers and the government to ensure that they are workable within the commercial reality of funding small businesses. The VCT industry faces significant challenges in complying with these rule changes… but the industry has the benefit of highly experienced managers [who] have adapted to changes in the past and continued to deliver good returns for shareholders”.

£20 billion of new funding?

Considering the financial size of the issue, the Chancellor’s announcement of a £20 billion funding package for supporting investment into highgrowth innovative firms was presented almost as an afterthought. And some of the figures will look a little less thin-air and flaky when the salient details eventually emerge. But the gist of the Treasury’s plans, as outlined in the November response, are as follows:

The Chancellor has effectively doubled the amount that EIS and Venture Capital Trusts can bring in from risk investments

• To establish a new £2.5 billion investment fund incubated in the British Business Bank (BBB), which will be floated or sold once it has established a sufficient track record. With the intention that it will release £7.5 billion by the time that private sector cash has been attracted.

• To invest £500 million of public money through the BBB into a series of private sector ‘funds of funds’, which will encourage new institutional investment in high-growth sectors. Up to two further waves of investment will be launched, the Treasury says, facilitating up to £4 billion of financing in total.

• To use the BBB’s existing Enterprise Capital Fund programme to back first-time and emerging fund managers, thus enabling at least £1.5 billion of investment.

• To support overseas investment in UK venture capital through the Department for International Trade, which the government expects to unlock at least £1 billion of investment.

• To set the BBB to the task of developing groups of business angels outside the London area.

• To create a National Security Strategic Investment Fund that will invest in advanced technologies that can contribute to national security.

That’s all we know at the moment, folks. Stay tuned.

Opening up to pension funds?

We’ve already said that the Treasury is aware of how its tighter lifetime allowance rules are driving new money into higher risk investments. But by the look of things, the Chancellor is keen to find ways of allowing pension funds to become “a natural supply of patient capital” – an area where risk has not traditionally been especially welcome.

That process will presumably take time. All that we’re getting at the moment is an undertaking that “the Pensions Regulator will clarify guidance on how trustees can include investment in assets with long-term investment horizons e.g., venture capital, infrastructure and other illiquid assets in a diverse portfolio”.

And that “the Treasury will establish a working group of institutional investors and fund managers to look at how to remove barriers holding back some defined contribution pension savers from investing in illiquid assets”.

But is it a good idea at all to mix pensions with high risk? Steve Webb, the former Pensions Minister and Director of Policy at Royal London, told the Financial Times that “the idea of relaxing those limits for those who want to invest in start-up businesses is a creative one [that] could be very attractive to those who are currently restricted” but he added that it was “a type of investment that would be best suited to sophisticated investors on the basis of expert advice”.

There was an uncomplicated welcome from pensions adviser Henry Tapper, who deplored the way that the LTA makes it hard for higher earners: “I hope that mature savers will be able to invest patiently for the later years of our retirement without having to worry about penal rates of taxation. Doing the right thing with money, should be tax-incentivised. While most of my thinking is about the issues of those on low earnings, I don’t see why those who have done well and saved hard, should stop because of the lifetime allowance and annual allowance”.

And there we must necessarily leave it. We can expect to see much better detail coming in during the next few months, in readiness for what promises to become a turning point for risk investment in the UK.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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BREXIT DEBACLE: HOW ALTERNATIVE INVESTING MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE Andrew Aldridge, Head of Marketing at Deepbridge Capital, says alternative investments will be needed more than ever post-Brexit With the Brexit negotiations ongoing there is plenty of speculation and conjecture not just about the outcome of those negotiations, but what the ‘world’ will look like for the UK economy and business in general when the UK finally leaves the EU on the 29 March 2019.

Written down in black and white, it doesn’t seem particularly far away, which is perhaps why the temperature is rising in terms of our ability to secure a deal, and what it might look like.

However, let’s assume that the leaving of the EU takes place as scheduled and we do find ourselves in a post-EU environment – there will clearly be some big questions for UK businesses, not least in terms of how they secure the funding they need and, specifically, for new start-ups what route they take in order to source capital, how they use it, and what impact this might have on the UK economy if those sources start to dry up.

Let’s make no bones about it, this will be a crucial factor in determining the strength of the UK economy post-Brexit, and it seems that in a number of crucial sectors such as technology, life sciences, etc, the government seems to recognise that it needs a plan in place in order to support these businesses.

It’s the reason why both Prime Minister Theresa May and the Chancellor Philip Hammond have been very

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GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

visible in terms of supporting technology businesses in this country. Just recently, they announced a package of measures including doubling the number of visas available to talented individuals from around the world, including those working in digital technology; investing £21 million to forge a nationwide network, Tech Nation, to accelerate growth; introducing a new £20 million fund to help those in public services access UK tech expertise; and the launch of a £20 million training programme to help young people ‘test their skills against simulated online cyber threats’.

Huge contribution It’s clear that the government views the advances made by UK businesses in the tech space as vitally important to the performance of the overall economy. And why shouldn’t they? They contribute a huge amount – for instance, Deepbridge has invested in 19 EIS and 33 SEIS companies over the past 18 months, many of which are tech businesses, and those firms have been responsible for products used in over 195 countries, with commercial sales or trials in over 30 countries. In addition, from a source of revenue perspective for the government, the investment these firms have received and their

ability to trade, will have contributed significantly to both the Treasury coffers and the overall economy.

Those companies mentioned above employ over 350 staff – at its base level if all of those are on the UK’s national average salary of £27,600 a year, they will each be paying an average of £5,500 per year in income tax, which totals £2 million; plus it’s widely believed that we all pay an additional £5,000 a year in indirect taxes, which would push the tax take up to a total of £4.75 million per annum purely generated by that employment. Add in any additional tax revenue in the form of corporate taxes or VAT, and you can see what benefit the economy/ government sees when firms are securing funding, getting off the ground, and beginning to contribute right across the board.

Crucial funding With a particularly uncertain future upon us, I don’t think we can underestimate the impact the ability to fund such companies can have, and it has been EIS/ SEIS funding which has helped deliver on this. In a recent survey we ran of our own investee companies, 100% of respondents said that such funding had been absolutely crucial to their business and to how they were able to develop and forge a product/ service proposition.

It’s also important not to underestimate what these businesses are actually working on and that they are developing, launching and selling products which are changing people’s lives. This is not just about the collection of tax revenue, but it’s also about creating efficiency and cost savings in areas of the economy which have traditionally had difficulty in doing so.

For instance, we have investee companies who have multiple products that are being used regularly or being trialled within the NHS –these are not just saving money for trusts but they are also helping save lives. And if you wanted to bring this back to a point about the benefits to the UK in a post-Brexit world, then we have worked with companies in the US, Australia, Germany, Poland, Portugal and others to discuss ‘re-homing’ companies/innovations back to the UK, with all the benefits this would bring.

Impactive investments In a true sense this is why it’s important for advisers (and their clients) to consider the overall impact that

their investments have, and not simply in the sense of securing a tax saving or generating a return. These, of course, are rightly important, but there’s also the ‘greater good’ perspective which means their money has a direct effect on supporting businesses, helping them get established, developing their proposition, and subsequently supporting significant job creation, plus the economic growth it can deliver right across the piece.

And, in that regard, it seems absolutely right that EIS/ SEIS investments are targeted at those businesses best able to deliver on this; that investor’s money does go to the most appropriate recipients and not just those that can promise tax mitigation. In order to do this, we support companies who are involved in sectors such as technology and life sciences that can make a significant mark and difference. We only work with, what we would call, ‘knowledge intensive’ companies – all are highly innovative and our funding supports the development and growth of those innovations. It allows those businesses to forge partnerships with universities and hospitals, thereby providing potential new/additional income streams for such organisations, which are constantly looking for ways to generate more revenue and fund growing gaps.

For some, it may be easy to be pessimistic and negative about the future for the UK at present – uncertainty tends to do that, especially when that uncertainty is generated from unprecedented events. However, regardless of how Brexit might eventually play out, there will still remain some unalienable truths specifically in the business world. Companies and firms are still going to need funding, and those in certain sectors are going to need it more than others especially those start-ups who are untried, untested and have, for instance, a new product/innovation.

We believe EIS/SEIS are fantastic mechanisms in order to support these businesses however we should also not underestimate (or forget) the impact they can have beyond this, certainly in terms of generating economic growth, enabling technological development and ensuring UK plc remains at the forefront of global innovation. As a nation it is important that we ensure we support those following in the footsteps of our great innovators such as Babbage, Bell, Brunel, BernersLee, Dyson, Faraday, Fleming, Logie-Baird, et al.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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M AGAZINE

OPEN OFFERS Highlighting some of the key offerings currently available to IFAs

Open Offers

EIS Open

Close

Now

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £25,000

Seneca EIS Portfolio Service The Seneca EIS Portfolio Service is an evergreen discretionary management service that offers investors the opportunity to build a portfolio of equity investments in UK based SMEs, which are seeking an injection of capital to fund their next phase of growth.

The Service gives investors a portfolio of 4-6 investments per year diversified by sector. It targets investment returns of £1.60 to £1.80 per £1 invested (excluding tax reliefs). The EIS Service totals over £45m and has completed 60 investment rounds across 35 companies. 17 companies in the portfolio service are already AIM listed providing liquidity, market pricing and exit visibility for investors.

T. 020 7071 3926 E. seneca@lgbrtax.com www.lgbrtax.com

BPR Open

Now

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited

T. 020 7391 4747 E. questions@time-investments.com www.time-investments.com

The Portfolio Manager, Seneca Partners, is part of the wider Seneca business, which has c. £450m invested assets and over £4bn debt under advice. The knowledge, experience and pedigree of Seneca’s investment team, combined with their individual track records of successful investing in the SME sector, is complimented by an extensive deal flow network in the UK’s SME heartlands of northern England and the West Midlands.

TIME:Advance TIME:Advance is a discretionary management service that allows investors to access Business Property Relief (BPR) to mitigate their Inheritance Tax (IHT) liabilities. The service offers 100% IHT relief in just two years, alongside a targeted return of 3.5% per annum. Importantly clients retain access and control, so have the option to withdraw a lump sum or set up regular withdrawals in the form of an income.

The service focuses on capital preservation by investing in asset backed businesses which qualify for BPR. These businesses include secured lending, renewable energy, biomass and self-storage. The product is managed by an expert team, with a proven 21 year track record of 100% success in achieving BPR for investors.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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BPR Open

Close

Evergreen

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited

TIME:CTC (Corporate Trading Companies) TIME:CTC is a bespoke Inheritance Tax (IHT) solution for corporate investors, which boasts an impressive 21 year track record of delivering IHT relief for investors. TIME:CTC is aimed at business owners who have built up surplus cash in their business and could potentially lose Business Property Relief (BPR).

The focus of TIME:CTC is on capital preservation by investing in asset backed businesses which qualify for BPR. These businesses include secured lending, renewable energy, biomass and self-storage. Our strategy allows business owners to maintain control of their assets, avoiding the need for trusts or gifting to obtain relief.

T. 020 7391 4747 E. questions@time-investments.com www.time-investments.com

BPR Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited

Targeting a return of 3.5% and potentially immediate reinstatement of BPR qualifying assets. To date more than 1000 of our clients have already achieved BPR on their investments, a 100% success rate.

TIME:AIM TIME:AIM uses our unique ‘smart passive’ approach in selecting companies listed on AIM for inclusion within the investment portfolios we create for investors. Designed to offer lower volatility returns than the AIM market, TIME:AIM will only target AIM listed companies that qualify for BPR. SMART because we use an innovative, defensive market screening process PASSIVE because we remove stock picker bias and ignore market sentiment A welcome secondary benefit of this approach is that we are able to offer this service at around half the annual management fee of many of the traditional AIM BPR fund managers. We believe our service creates a robust portfolio that will allow investors the opportunity for significant growth potential and mitigation of their IHT liability after only two years.

• Available within an ISA and non-ISA wrapper

T. 020 7391 4747 E. questions@time-investments.com www.time-investments.com

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GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

• IHT relief in just two years • Focus on reducing volatility • Removal of stock picker bias • Lower cost than traditional AIM services

Open Offers

EIS Open

Close

Evergreen

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £10m+ Minimum Investment: £25,000

Oxford Capital Growth EIS Through the Oxford Capital Growth EIS, investors can build a portfolio of shares in 12-15 companies over a period of roughly 12-18 months. Each portfolio company should be eligible for EIS reliefs, including 30% income tax relief and taxfree gains.

We invest in small businesses seeking to solve big scientific, technological or commercial problems. Our current portfolio includes companies in sectors including games development, eCommerce, digital healthcare and artificial intelligence.

T. 01865 860 760 E. investment@oxcp.com www.oxcp.com

BPR Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £25,000

T. 01865 860 760 E. investment@oxcp.com www.oxcp.com

We work closely with our investee companies, helping to accelerate commercial development with the aim of achieving a profitable exit, usually through either a trade sale or a stock market listing. The Oxford Capital Growth EIS targets a return of 2.0x the amount invested (net of applicable fees and not including the impact of EIS tax reliefs), aiming to return the majority of proceeds 5-7 years after initial investment.

Oxford Capital Estate Planning Service The Oxford Capital Estate Planning Service can help investors mitigate Inheritance Tax by investing in companies that should qualify for Business Property Relief, subject to the requisite holding period.

Clients can choose from five different investment options, depending on their preference for capital growth or dividend income. If a client’s circumstances change, they can elect to switch to an alternative investment option. Target returns range from 3% to 5% p.a., and capital can be accessed within 1-6 months through the sale of shares.

Investors in the Estate Planning Service will acquire shares in unquoted holding companies. Managed by Oxford Capital’s infrastructure investment team, these companies will make equity investments in, and loans to, companies which in turn will own and operate revenue-generating assets. The investment strategy is currently focused on small-scale power generating equipment, including renewable energy assets. Over time, it is possible that other assets will be added to the portfolio.

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Open Offers

EIS Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £25,000

T. 01865 860760 E. investment@oxcp.com www.oxcp.com

EIS

Evergreen

SEIS

Special Opportunities

Amount to be Raised: £20m Minimum Investment: £20,000

Oxford Capital Media EIS The Oxford Capital Media EIS invests in companies operating in the UK’s creative sectors, focusing on business models where risks can be managed through robust commercial contracts.

The Media EIS targets a return to investors of up to £1.20 per £1 invested, not including the beneficial impact of EIS tax reliefs. The minimum holding period is expected to be four years.

The most recent tranche invested in film sales agents. These companies acquire the right to act as sales agents for a number of independent films, earning revenues from the sale of distribution rights. Using this model, the companies are entitled to be paid from some of the first revenues generated by each film. As such, the companies are not exposed to the risks of box office failure, and they can make a positive return even from films which only recover part of their production budget.

A new tranche is expected to open before the end of the calendar year.

Iron Box Capital: Particle 1 Fund Film is a fast growing industry. There is insatiable demand for film globally to provide material for all the new media that offer films. Investing in film is also approved by the government through the availability of both tax credits and EIS tax benefits. Unsurprising as it brings many millions of revenues into the UK. At Iron Box Capital we pride ourselves in our expertise and experience, and to do all that we do very well. After all, our Chairman is Colin Brown, the ex-British Film Commissioner.

Through Particle 1 Fund, investors will participate in 3 or 4 films, all of which are closely vetted for genre, audience appeal and saleability.

The target IRR before tax relief is 15%, and 25% if you include the tax relief available.

T. 020 7628 7857 E. info@ironboxcapital.com www.ironboxcapital.com

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And we should mention that you can have a lot of fun with film. Every investor and their adviser can get involved in our film projects in different ways. Why not talk to us to find out more?

Please refer to the Investment Memorandum for full details and risk warnings.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

Open Offers

EIS Open

01/08/2013

Close

N/A

Amount to be Raised: Uncapped

Deepbridge - Technology Growth EIS The Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS represents an opportunity for investors to participate in a portfolio of actively-managed growth-stage technology companies, taking advantage of the potential tax benefits available under the Enterprise Investment Scheme. The Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS is a diversified portfolio of actively managed highgrowth companies seeking commercialisation funding. The Deepbridge EIS invests in companies that have a proven technology, clear intellectual property and are operating in a high growth/high value market sector.

Focused on investing in high growth companies that are seeking to commercialise and expand, specifically in three sectors: • Energy and resource innovation; • Medical technology • IT-based technology

T. 01244 746000 www.deepbridgecapital.com

SEIS Open

01/07/2015

Close

N/A

Amount to be Raised: Uncapped

The target return for the Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS 22.9% p.a. over a minimum of three years; representing mid-case capital growth of 160p returned for every 100p invested. To ensure maximum tax efficiency for the investor, the Deepbridge EIS is entirely investor-fee free at point of investment.

The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS is an opportunity to secure potentially attractive returns by investing in a diversified portfolio of early-stage life science companies, whilst taking advantage of the considerable income tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax benefits available under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS seeks to fund companies with exciting new technologies that satisfy the needs of large and growing markets. The overarching focus of the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS offers investors companies engaged in the development of therapeutics for the following areas: • Anti-viral drug discovery and development • Antibiotic drug discovery and development • Neurodegenerative disease therapeutics • Cancer diagnostics and therapeutics • Autoimmune and other metabolic disorders therapies

T. 01244 746000 www.deepbridgecapital.com

The target return for the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS is >35% over a minimum of five years; representing mid-case capital growth of 250p returned for every 100p invested. To ensure maximum tax efficiency for the investor, the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS is entirely investor-fee free at point of investment.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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BR Open

01/07/2015

Close

N/A

Amount to be Raised: Uncapped

Deepbridge IHT Service The Deepbridge IHT Service is designed to deliver capital preservation from a portfolio of Business Relief qualifying renewable energy companies that seek to have a high degree of asset-backing and a business model based on the Renewables Obligation, the UK Government subsidies for the generation of renewable energy. Utilising Business Relief, subscriptions may be eligible for exemption from IHT after a minimum of two years.

The Deepbridge IHT Service has a target priority return of 6% per annum after the second year.

T. 01244 746000 www.deepbridgecapital.com

IHT Open

Evergreen

BPR Close

Evergreen

Minimum Investment: £30,000

Fundamental T. 01923 713 890 E. enquiries@fundamentalasset.com www.fundamentalasset.com

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Investment criteria: • Attractive subsidies: The UK Government offers subsidies to the renewable energy sector, including Renewable Obligation Certificates and Feed-in-Tariffs.

• No planning risk: Investments will be made in projects with all the necessary permissions in place, providing a known cost base for the investment.

• Proven technology: The use of proven renewable energy technologies that allow levels of energy production to be forecast with a good level of accuracy.

Fundamental AIM IHT Portfolio Fundamental Asset Management is an independent, owner managed, investment management firm with an unrivalled knowledge of the AIM market. It has successfully provided AIM portfolio management with inheritance tax planning to private investors, trusts and institutions since 2004 delivering outstanding returns.

Our investment ethos for AIM IHT Portfolios is conservative and value based. At its foundation is our in-depth, in-house research, which includes visiting and meeting senior management of hundreds of companies each year. As well as being available on its own broker platform the Fundamental AIM IHT Portfolio service can also be accessed through the AXA Elevate, Nucleus, Standard Life and Transact platforms.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

Open Open Offers Offers

EIS Open

Now

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

£50m per tax year

Minimum Investment: £25,000

Parkwalk Opportunities EIS Fund Parkwalk Opportunities EIS Fund is a multi-award winning fund that focuses on investing in the UK university spin-out asset-class. The Fund targets capital growth for investors, by building a diverse portfolio of high-growth, ‘knowledge intensive’ technology businesses, which are underpinned by patent protected intellectual property (IP).

Why invest?

• Strong performance, track record of returning full subscriptions plus gains within 4-5 years.

• Diverse portfolio of at least 5 investments, from early-stage university spin-outs through to AIM-listed.

• Quick deployment, average 9 months for full subscription investment (as at Sept 2017).

• Co-invests alongside institutional investors e.g. Invesco Perpetual, IP Group Plc and Woodford.

• Strong deal flow from relationships with Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol University.

Winners of ‘Best EIS Fund Manager’ at EISA Awards 2016 & ‘Best Generalist’ at the Investment Week Awards 2016, Parkwalk are recognized as having delivered some impressive returns to investors. Further details on performance can be found at: http://parkwalkadvisors.com/pw_performance/

T. 0203 743 3100 E. info@kincapital.co.uk www.kincapital.co.uk

EIS Open

Now

SEIS Close

N/A

Amount to be Raised: £5m Minimum Investment: £15,000

T. 01865 784466 E. info@oxfordtechnology.com www.oxfordtechnology.com

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact the Kin Capital sales team who would be delighted to help with any sales queries, meetings or events on 0203 743 3100.

Please refer to the Investment Memorandum for full details and risk warnings.

Oxford Technology Combined SEIS and EIS Fund OT(S)EIS invests in high risk high reward technology start-ups, in general within an hour’s drive of Oxford and has been doing this since 1983.

The latest fund OT(S)EIS made its first investment in 2012. By 30 June 2017, 70 investments had been made in 28 companies. The statistics are: • Gross amount invested £3.75m • Tax refunds to investors £1.52m • Net cost of investments £2.23m • Fair value £6.26m • Tax free gain (on paper only) £4.03m OT(S)EIS remains open for investment at any time. The latest quarterly report, with a page of information on each investment is downloadable from www.oxfordtechnology.com

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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EIS Open

Evergreen

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £5,000

GrowthInvest - The Tax Efficient Platform for Advisers GrowthInvest is a unique, independent platform which provides access to tax efficient investments to a growing network of UK financial advisers, wealth managers and investors. Originally founded by financial advisers in 2012 as the Seed EIS Platform, we rebranded as GrowthInvest in October 2016 to better reflect the wider range of products and services available: We permit investment into a range of single company offers, as well as Managed EIS Portfolio Services and funds, giving clients a number of different investment options.

• We offer a simplified asset transfer process which allows advisers to place all of their clients’ tax efficient investments onto the platform.

• We provide intuitive online reporting tools, allowing advisers to monitor, analyse, and provide consolidated performance updates and quarterly reports to their clients.

• All investable companies go through one of 3 defined due diligence tiers, giving added peace-of-mind to the adviser.

• A single, secure online environment for all clients to review and build their tax efficient investment portfolios.

T. 020 7071 3945 E. enquiries@growthinvest.com www.growthinvest.com

EIS Open

April 2017

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

Up to £25,000,000

Minimum Investment: £10,000

T. 020 7071 3945 E. enquiries@growthinvest.com www.growthinvest.com

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We’ve placed the adviser at the heart of everything we do, making it straightforward for advisers to improve the service they offer to their clients in the tax efficient investment arena. Please visit us at growthinvest.com for more details about our current open investment opportunities.

GrowthInvest Portfolio Service A discretionary investment management service which seeks to leverage the experience and expertise of the GrowthInvest investment team to select a diversified portfolio of some of the most promising companies that have passed through GrowthInvest due diligence process.

GrowthInvest is an independent platform, which provides access to tax efficient investments to a growing network of UK financial advisers, wealth managers and investors. The platform aims to bring the advantages of early stage investing to a wider audience of investors and advisers, who are able to benefit from the potentially higher returns these companies can offer and tax efficiency via government approved schemes, such as SEIS and EIS. From our experience working with advisers on the Platform, the Fund has been designed to consist of three sub-funds, each with a separate investment policy. The first will target Investee Companies which qualify for SEIS Reliefs only. The second will target Investee Companies which qualify for EIS Reliefs only and the third will be a mixed investment policy which will target Investee Companies which qualify for SEIS Reliefs and / or EIS Reliefs. You will be able to choose how much of your subscription to allocate to each of these three sub-funds. The Fund is aiming to exit investments after three to seven years.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

Open Offers

EIS Launch

12/09/17

SEIS Close

05/03/18

Amount to be Raised: £3m Minimum Investment: £10,000

Cape Cod Cellars Ltd Cape Cod Cellars, “Martha’s Other Vineyard” is a new company created to build Cape Cod Cellars (“CCC”), into a premier aspiration, lifestyle brand.

We will deliver the Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod seafood and lifestyle cuisine to London and Europe. We will deliver this feeling to our consumers through our flagship Cape Cod Cellars Café & Wine Bar, our Apparel and Merchandise and eventually, distributing our own wine brands (Chatham Chardonnay, Nantucket Red, Schooner’s Sauvignon Blanc etc.).

Our online marketplace will be commensurate with the themes of the flagship Cape Cod Cellars Café & Wine Bar and, in particular, a scalable aspect of the business. Already in production, our golden silk scarves with the Cape Cod Cellars brand to cuff links, necklaces, wind breakers, even corduroys with our logo lining the pockets, Cape Cod Cellars will be hip, smart, cool and upscale.

T. 07917 767 362 E. tim@capecodcellars.co.uk www.capecodcellars.co.uk

EIS Open

January 2015

EIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited

When a couple or a group of friends walk into our landmark CCC Café & Wine Bar, we want them to travel back to a time of their childhood or adulthood, fondly recalling great memories on Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard or Chatham.

Wide brown wood floors will be complimented with nautical oil paintings, dunes, red picket fencing, images of lighthouses, and a sailboat hanging from the ceiling.

Above the circular, mahogany bar will be portholes with waves flowing behind them. It will be bright, optimistic, memorable and upscale.

For Barclays banking details, email tim@capecodcellars.co.uk

CHF Enterprises CHF Enterprises Ltd (CHF) presents an exciting and unique opportunity for UK tax payers to invest in both SEIS and EIS qualifying shows and concepts, whilst also benefitting from risk mitigation in the form of seed and traditional EIS reliefs and Government backed Animation Tax Credits.

The company has a strong and proven track record: over the past 40 years, Cosgrove Hall have produced iconic children’s programmes such as Danger Mouse, Postman Pat, Roary the Racing Car and others, and CHF has a multi BAFTA and International Emmy award winning creative team.

One of its recent shows, Pip Ahoy! was funded via CHF’s own in-house EIS offering and is now on air on Channel 5’s Milkshake every weekday for 5 years, to great media acclaim.

T. +44 (0)845 512 1000 E. nicolajohnston@chfmedia.com www.chfenterprises.co.uk

The shows and concepts may have multiple revenue streams from Broadcast and License and Merchandising sales with unlimited investment returns. Shows are produced in the UK and should qualify for the Government’s Animation Tax Credits.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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IHT Open

October 2014

Close

Open-ended

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited Minimum Investment: £15,000

Puma AIM Inheritance Tax Service Puma AIM Inheritance Tax Service is an award-winning discretionary portfolio service that seeks to mitigate IHT by investing in a carefully selected portfolio of Alternative Investment Market (AIM) shares. Since launch in 2014, the Service has 3 years out performance of the FTSE AIM All Share Index (+44.37% out performance since inception).

• Focus on defensive growth: Investments selected on a strict, research driven criteria.

• Inheritance Tax: The investment is intended to benefit from IHT relief after a two year holding period.

• Experienced Team: Led by Investment Director with 18 years of experience specialising in small and mid-cap companies.

• Available in ISAs: Investing in a portfolio of qualifying AIM stocks, allowing investors to mitigate IHT while retaining the benefits of an ISA. • Quality companies: Seek to invest in quality companies with strong margins, good returns and a track record of cash generation.

• Portfolio construction: Targeting approximately 20 companies with market capitalisation in excess of £50 million and low portfolio turnover.

T. 020 7408 4070 E. info@pumainvestments.co.uk www.pumainvestments.co.uk

VCT Open

Sept 2017

Close

April 2018

Amount to be Raised: £30m Minimum Investment: £5,000

• Platform access: Financial advisers can access the service via the following Wrap Platforms - Ascentric, Standard Life and Transact.

This advert is aimed at financial advisers only and is not intended for retail clients. Puma Investments is a trading name of Puma Investment Management Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, including the risks, please visit our website.

Puma VCT 13 Puma VCT 13 will build on our investment team’s proven track record investing in growth businesses.

Core Focus: Proven investment team investing in growth businesses with strong management teams and proven track records, seeking to generate stable returns for investors Tax Benefits: Up to 30% income tax relief for eligible UK tax-payers provided Shares are held for at least five years. Both dividends received and any capital gains made upon the disposal of Shares are also tax free Limited Life: Seeking orderly wind up within 8-10 years, or earlier if market conditions present such an opportunity, subject to shareholder consent Target Tax Free Dividend: Target average annual dividend of 5p per share, per year, starting April 2020.

Experienced Team: The Investment Team has a 21 year track record of investing in SMEs.

T. 020 7408 4070 E. info@pumainvestments.co.uk www.pumainvestments.co.uk

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Note: Tax reliefs are not guaranteed and depend on the individual investor’s circumstances and may be subject to change. This financial promotion has been issued by Puma Investments Management Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This promotion is directed at investment professionals. For more information, including the risks, please visit info@pumainvestments.co.uk

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

Open Offers

IHT Open

Close

June 2013

Open-ended

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited Minimum Investment: £25,000

Puma Heritage plc Business Relief Qualifying Offer: Puma Heritage plc’s core focus is on first charge secured property lending.

It’s primary objectives are to preserve capital and mitigate risk whilst generating stable, asset-backed returns for shareholders.

• Inheritance Tax: It is intended that a subscription for shares in Puma Heritage plc will benefit from Inheritance Tax relief, provided the shares have been held for at least 2 years at the point of death.

• Investment Strategy: Conservative trading strategy focused on secured asset-backed lending.

• Flexibility: Choice of income or growth shares, and ability to switch between them.

• Prospectus approved: Prospectus approved by UKLA. • Experienced adviser: Puma Heritage has appointed Puma Investments as its trading adviser.

T. 020 7408 4070 E. info@pumainvestments.co.uk www.pumainvestments.co.uk

EIS Open

01.04.2017

Close

31.12.2017

Amount to be Raised: £3.6m Minimum Investment: £25,000

• Aligned interests: Puma Investments will not receive any performance fees, and its annual advisory fees are only paid in full if a minimum annual return of 3% is achieved.

This advert is aimed at financial advisers only and is not intended for retail clients. Puma Investments is a trading name of Puma Investment Management Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, including the risks, please visit our website.

Ober Private Clients – Fairy Tale of New York Starring Golden Globe winning actor, Kiefer Sutherland (24, Flatliners, Stand By Me, Lost Boys, A Few Good Men and Young Guns) and Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns, Still Alice and Heist), as well as an ensemble of other A-List actors, Fairy Tale of New York is a modern love story based upon the most popular Christmas song of the 21st Century.

The world-class film makers, including award winning director, Lee Cleary (Hurt Locker, the X-Men films and Fantastic Four), and producer, Lisa Katselas, (producer of twice Oscar nominated Richard III), are positioning the film to appeal to a broad international audience, aided by the strong brand recognition of the title song and the extensive fan-bases of the cast.

Fairy Tale of New York is expected to capture the lucrative seasonal market at Christmas time for many years to come, as one of the few credible festive films available. The subject-matter of the film also assists with the generation of ancillary revenues from soundtrack, merchandise and other commercial activities.

As a film that key cast and crew are deeply passionate and confident about, a large proportion of its costs have been substituted for equity, resulting in a budget that is significantly below production value. Investors also benefit from a priority mechanism to the point they have recouped 130% of gross capital as well as an uncapped share of the upside.

T. 0333 939 8533 E. lizz.ewart@oberprivateclients.com www.oberprivateclients.com

For more information on this opportunity and other opportunities offered by Ober Private Clients, please contact Lizz Ewart: lizz.ewart@oberprivateclients.com THIS IS NOT A FINANCIAL PROMOTION

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

43

EIS Open

Close

13.11.2017

30.03.2018

Amount to be Raised: Up to £10m Minimum Investment: £25,000

EcoMachines Ventures - EMV EIS Fund I The EMV EIS Fund I is a discretionary portfolio focusing on EIS qualifying investments in industrial high-tech, energy, robotics, IoT and resource efficiency, to provide attractive tax relief for investors.

The fund is seeking to raise up to £10 million for a six to eight-year fund with targeted returns of three times initial investment. Investments into Investee Companies will typically range from £200,000 to £1,000,000.

All Investee Companies will have obtained EIS advance assurance from HMRC prior to investing.

EMV is a London-based experienced investor in B2B industrial high-tech companies investing in, building, and supporting the growth of highpotential technology SMEs with core technological innovation and B2B business models. EMV has experience working and co-investing with some of the world’s largest industrial players in its focus area including ABB, Philips Lighting, Evonik Industries and Flex.

EMV is acting as exclusive advisor to the fund, bringing its established expertise, analytical framework and network of corporate relationships to provide quality investments and attractive EIS tax relief to investors.

T. 0203 761 6138 E. investors@ecomachinesventures.com www.ecomachinesventures.com/ emv-eis-fund

EIS Open

July 2017

Close

June 2018

Amount to be Raised: £20m Minimum Investment: £50,000

The fund manager is Sapphire Capital Partners, an award-winning specialist fund manager focused on EIS and SEIS schemes. The Fund is also supported by Mainspring, a leading UK fund custodian and Philip Hare & Associates, one of the UK’s leading experts in UK VCT and EIS tax reliefs, as tax advisor.

Calculus Capital EIS Fund Pioneers of tax efficient investing, Calculus Capital created the UK’s first approved EIS Fund in 1999. Our 18 year track record of investing in growing UK companies assures investors of our ability to make sensible investments capable of delivering excellent returns at every stage of economic cycle.

Winners of ‘Best EIS Fund Manager’ at the EIS Association Awards for the past three consecutive years, Calculus Capital are recognised as having an incredibly robust investment process and an active portfolio management style - which has led to an impressive track record of successful exits.

The Calculus EIS Fund focuses on established companies with growth potential, across a diverse range of sectors. Target companies have the following characteristics: • The ability to achieve our target IRR of 20% • Experienced management teams • Successful sales of proven products or services • Profits or a clear path to profitability • Clear route to exit

T. 020 7493 4940 E. info@calculuscapital.com www.calculuscapital.com

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The 18 month investment programme commences after relevant closing date. The next close is taking place October 27th 2017.

We value our reputation for personal service as much as our investment record, and are focused on providing an excellent client experience. Please get in touch to find out more. 020 7493 4940.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

Open Offers

EIS Open

Now

SEIS Open

Now

Amount to be Raised: Uncapped Minimum Investment: £5,000

Seed Advantage SEIS and EIS Funds Seed Mentors has been successfully involved in Seed EIS since it was first introduced in 2012.

Since then they have successfully promoted and closed 11 funds, and invested in over 60 exciting young companies. All companies continue to trade.

The fund structure is a discrete investment portfolio service operated through the Fund Manager, Amersham Investment Management Ltd. The Funds adopt as whole of market, holistic approach.

Seed Mentors provide practical support and mentoring services to each company and a nominated director. The EIS fund offers the opportunity to support companies that have previously received SEIS funding, and are now looking for capital for growth and expansion.

T. 0203 011 0901 E. s.randall@seedmentors.co.uk www.seedmentors.co.uk

EIS Launch

May 2017

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £5m Minimum Investment: £10,000

Seed Mentors have now extended the range of funds on offer with the Boxing Advantage Company.

In a joint venture with the legendary Barry McGuigan, investors can invest in a portfolio of highly promising boxers through the Seed Advantage EIS Fund.

The boxers will be selected and trained by Barry McGuigan and his team.

Jenson SEIS & EIS Fund The Fund targets exciting, innovative and disruptive technologies that are nurtured alongside existing investments (in the current SEIS investee company portfolio) which are ready for follow-on funding to fully exploit commercialisation of a proven business model, via the EIS. Our combined SEIS and EIS structure is designed to provide increased diversification as a portfolio investment; whilst the balance between capital growth, portfolio risk and time horizon is maximised, along with enhancing the tax advantages available.

Jenson is a pioneer of SEIS Investments, investing since 2012 and with over 80 investments (£12 million) to date. They actively advise entrepreneurs to re-evaluate business models, reduce projected costs and introduce potential executives, partners, customers and suppliers as part of the value add service they provide. Jenson aims to offer these businesses far more than just funding.

T. 020 7788 7539 E. seis@jensonsolutions.com www.jensonfundingpartners.com

The Investee support programme provides financial and operational assistance to investee companies - enhancing returns, a key differentiator between Jenson and other SEIS and EIS providers.

The Jenson SEIS and EIS Fund allows investors to choose whether they want to invest solely via SEIS or EIS or to split their funds across SEIS and EIS investments, enabling the investor to maximise the tax advantages.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

45

EIS Open

Close

Now

N/A

Amount to be Raised: £4m Minimum Investment: £10,000

T. 0203 8978 861 E. sarah@goldfinchentertainment.com www.goldfinchentertainment.com

SEIS Open

Now

Close

Multiple

Amount to be Raised: £3m Minimum Investment: £5,000

Goldfinch Entertainment EIS Fund • Approved EIS Fund with 70% Protection • Investing into qualifying Film & TV productions • Protection is taken in the form of unsold territories, Government Tax Credits or guarantees • £2m raised in 2015/16 • Built and run by a team with enviable business and industry experience • Team has deployed £60m+ since inception • Over 115 projects at various stages of development and financing • BAFTA and Oscar winning producers and directors • A List cast attached such as Orlando Bloom, Bill Nighy, Sir John Hurt, Charles Dance, David Tennant and Martin Freeman • Shortlisted TWICE CONSECUTIVELY for the ‘Game Changer’ Growth Investor Award • Managed by industry veterans Amersham Investment Management

Goldfinch Entertainment SEIS Fund • Approved SEIS Fund qualifying investment opportunities in the UK’s film, TV and other entertainment sectors.

• Investing into UK Film (30%), TV (30%) and Video Games (30%) • £2.5m raised in 2015/16 • Built and run by a team with enviable business and industry experience • Team has deployed £60m+ since inception • Over 115 projects at various stages of development and financing • BAFTA and Oscar winning producers, directors and developers.

T. 0203 8978 861 E. sarah@goldfinchentertainment.com www.goldfinchentertainment.com

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• A List cast attached such as Orlando Bloom, Bill Nighy, Sir John Hurt, Charles Dance, David Tennant and Martin Freeman • Shortlisted TWICE CONSECUTIVELY for the ‘Game Changer’ Growth Investor Award • Managed by industry veterans Kin Capital Partners

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

Open Offers

IHT Open

Evergreen

BPR Close

Evergreen

Minimum Investment: £20,000

ESP AiM ESP AiM is a simple estate planning solution that provides full inheritance tax relief after two years.

Stellar employs award-winning stockbroker Pilling & Co to create a diversified portfolio of mature AiM listed companies.

ESP AiM is one of the most diversified portfolios currently available; with 40 companies held across eight of the ten major AiM sectors.

With a focus on wealth preservation, ESP AiM holds established AiM companies with an average market cap of more than £600m.

ESP AiM has a nine-year performance track record and has consistently out-performed the AiM index since 2010, with growth of 130% over the last five years.

Available in an ISA wrapper, clients can keep their existing ISA benefits to create a tax-efficient portfolio free from income, capital gains and inheritance tax.

T. 020 3907 6984 E. enquiries@stellar-am.com www.stellar-am.com

IHT Open

Evergreen

BPR Close

Evergreen

Minimum Investment: £25,000

ESP AiM is available on a high number of wrap platforms to make it even easier for advisers to consolidate clients’ existing portfolios for estate planning.

Investors can also choose to insure their investment from day one with our ESP AiM+ option.

ESP Income ESP Income is unique in the marketplace because it helps clients mitigate their inheritance tax liability without sacrificing a regular income stream to support their lifestyle.

Structured as a discretionary portfolio that generates a regular income of 4.5% per annum, in addition to providing full inheritance tax relief after two years.

Capital is diversified across trading activities that offer a high level of capital security and the ability to generate a natural yield. Currently these sectors include hotels, renewables and construction finance.

Income is paid as a dividend and distributed to investors twice a year.

It is important to note that the underlying investments generate the income investors receive and it is not a distribution of capital, therefore the principal investment amount is protected to be passed on to beneficiaries.

T. 020 3907 6984 E. enquiries@stellar-am.com www.stellar-am.com

With an increasing life expectancy in the UK, later life income is becoming more important to some clients.

ESP Income can help clients seeking to supplement their pension income, as a replacement to ISA income or as an alternative to an annuity.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

47

IHT

BPR

Open

Close

Evergreen

Evergreen

Minimum Investment: £40,000

ESP Growth ESP Growth is one of the most diversified asset-backed IHT portfolios available and clients can access six trading areas that are uncorrelated to equities and offer a high level of security with low volatility to minimise investment risk.

It has been carefully designed for clients seeking inheritance tax relief after two years with a focus on wealth preservation and capital growth.

These trading activities include commercial forestry, farming, hotels and residential development; importantly investors can choose to exclude any trades they want, to avoid over-exposure.

ESP Growth is structured so that the client is in full control of their capital.

On application we incorporate a trading company in your client’s name of which they are the sole shareholder. Capital is then invested in a diversified blend of trading activities which all qualify for full inheritance tax relief after two years.

T. 020 3907 6984 E. enquiries@stellar-am.com www.stellar-am.com

SITR Open

Feb 2016

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £5m Minimum Investment: £25,000 (smaller investments accepted at Fund Manager’s discretion)

The single company structure of ESP Growth makes it easy for clients to earmark legacies for their children by creating separate companies for each child to inherit.

ESP Growth has a net target return of 5% per annum and this is uncapped so if the trading assets outperform this target, your clients will reap the rewards.

Resonance Bristol SITR Fund The Resonance Bristol SITR Fund is one of the first investment funds in the country to benefit from Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR), enabling investors to build a portfolio of investments with the potential for attractive returns and tax relief benefits, whilst also helping to dismantle poverty in and around the City of Bristol through investing in the growth of high impact, mission-driven social enterprises.

SITR offers similar tax reliefs to those available through the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), including a 30% income tax relief. The key innovation is that SITR is available on debt, as well as equity. This means that debt focused SITR Funds can offer the flexible, affordable loan capital that social enterprises require to grow their businesses and social impact, whilst also offering investors a more predictable income profile and exit route compared to equity based Funds.

Resonance has over 15 years of experience in arranging investment into social enterprises, and now has over £150m under management through seven social impact investment Funds. These funds deliver financial return as well as targeted social impact in a range of areas - from tackling homelessness to health inequalities.

T. 07718 425 306 E. grace.england@resonance.ltd.uk www.resonance.ltd.uk

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After a successful first 12 months of the Resonance Bristol SITR Fund, Resonance is also now launching a series of regionally focused SITR Funds across the UK (the next being launched in the West Midlands in Autumn 2017).

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

Open Offers

EIS Open

Close

07.04.17

06.04.18

Amount to be Raised: £10m Minimum Investment: £20,000

Guinness AIM EIS The Guinness EIS seeks to invest in at least 10 investee companies to create a portfolio of investments across a range of sectors.

It targets AIM quoted companies with the flexibility to invest up to 20% in the NEX growth market and pre-IPO. The AIM EIS closes annually on 6th April for investment in the subsequent 12 months in newly issued AIM stocks that have EIS Advance Assurance in place and targets a return of £1.30 per £1.00 invested net of all fees.

The Guinness AIM EIS is an HMRC approved fund so that investors receive 1 EIS 5 certificate for all holdings once the portfolio is invested.

T. 020 7222 3475 E. shane.gallwey@guinnessfunds.com www.guinnessfunds.com/eis

EIS Open

19.09.16

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £40m Minimum Investment: £20,000

The AIM market is relatively liquid and provides a natural exit route with the intention to exit shares held soon after the EIS 3 year holding period.

For this service, Guinness will defer all fees until exit, which maximises the amount on which investors can claim EIS tax reliefs.

Guinness EIS The Guinness EIS seeks to invest in three to six investee companies to create a portfolio of investments across a range of sectors.

Characteristics favoured by the investment management team are as follows: • Businesses in leisure and services sector with strong balance sheets.

Examples include gyms, trampoline parks, pubs, crematoria and nurseries.

• Businesses with good visibility on cashflows - i.e. businesses with longer term contracts to provide predictability of future earnings. Examples are waste management, recycling or data centres.

T. 020 7222 3475 E. shane.gallwey@guinnessfunds.com www.guinnessfunds.com/eis

• Businesses requiring capital to purchase stock and equipment.

Successful businesses often require additional funds to expand their working capital. We prize businesses with high value stock such as luxury goods dealers.

The Guinness EIS is an Evergreen service with tranche closures at the end of each quarter.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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DMS Open

January 2015

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited Minimum Investment: N/A

Property Partner Discretionary Managed Service (DMS) Property Partner is the UK’s largest property investment platform and stock exchange, allowing investors to take a view on property assets, diversify their portfolio easily, and manage their market exposure at the click of a button.

Residential property is a popular investment with a strong track record, but it is not always easy to access. Our purpose is to bring accessibility, simplicity, and liquidity to this asset class. Our proposition makes it really simple for investors to diversify across multiple properties, in multiple locations, with multiple tenants, thereby reducing risk, and also removing all of the hassle associated with traditional buy-to-let. This includes tenant management, ongoing maintenance, and the significant legal and administrative burdens.

Property Partner’s Discretionary Managed Service allows your clients to own their share in a number of properties of their choosing, in line with specific investment criteria. Investors will also earn 5% interest on un-invested capital.

Income is paid monthly in the form of a dividend, and investors can sell their holdings whenever they like on the resale market.

Property Partner is the new way for advisers to engage with clients about buy-to-let. Please get in touch for more details about how to apply.

T. 0203 457 2471 E. john.oliver@propertypartner.co www.propertypartner.co

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Property Partner™ is the trading name of London House Exchange Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 613499). Capital at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protects the cash held in your Property Partner account, however the investments that you make through Property Partner are not protected by the FSCS in the event that you do not receive back the amount that you have invested. Forecasts are not a reliable indicator of future performance. Gross rent, dividends and capital growth may be lower than estimated. 5 yearly exit protection or exit on platform subject to price & demand. Property Partner does not provide tax or investment advice and any general information is provided to help you make your own informed decisions. Customers are advised to obtain appropriate tax or investment advice where necessary.

GB Investment Magazine · Dec/Jan 2018

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