First published in Cleantech magazine, February 2011. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2011
Fund: Foresight Clearwater VCT Fund
Manager: Foresight Group and Clearwater Corporate Finance
Stage: Launch
Investment houses Foresight Group and Clearwater Corporate Finance have teamed up to launch a £20 million venture capital trust (VCT) to back businesses at the “smaller end of the finance market”.
Under the partnership, the Foresight Clearwater VCT fund will be managed by Foresight, while Clearwater will be the strategic adviser. The generalist vehicle will focus on UK buyout and growth capital opportunities requiring total funding of less than £10 million. According to the companies, demand for funding in this sector exceeds supply.
“Over the last few years accessing growth capital funding or selling a business where the deal size is less than £10 million has become much harder, with bank lending falling significantly and private equity firms targeting the larger deal market,” Clearwater said in a statement.
Clearwater added that many business owners may have struggled to take advantage of the recent 400% rise in Entrepreneurs Relief. The benefit, which came into effect in 2010, allows for reduced capital gains tax of 10% in certain cases and could be worth up to £900,000 for business sellers.
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