Howard Kennedy has built unrivalled expertise in this field and so Keith Lassman and his team were the obvious choice for delivering what is only the third successful VCT launch on the London market in a decade. Keith's experience and straightforward approach, supported by his very capable team, have been a real asset throughout the process.
Shane Gallwey, Head of Guinness Ventures and Investment Manager of Guinness VCT
Guinness VCT is a generalist VCT providing scale-up capital to exciting UK unquoted businesses with exceptional growth prospects.
New VCTs are a rare breed, with only 2 having been successfully launched in the past 10 years.
Howard Kennedy is delighted to be associated with this new fund being launched by long established and prestigious investment house, Guinness Asset Management, with some £5.4bn under management in a variety of listed and unlisted funds.
The VCT is looking to raise up to £30 million for deployment into the vibrant and dynamic SME sector of the UK economy, hungry for capital to support their growth plans through these challenging times.
The launch of Guinness VCT comes at a time of increasing popularity of VCTs with the industry having drawn in a total of over £1bn of investment in the last tax year - 65% more than in the previous year.
The team at Howard Kennedy was led by Keith Lassman, Partner, Head of Capital Markets, supported by Matthew Astbury and Scott Mclean. Howard Kennedy are the leading VCT lawyers and LSE sponsors.
Regarding Howard Kennedy’s support, Lassman said: "The new lease of life handed to VCTs in the Government's recent announcement to extend the scheme, now with the much welcomed clarity on their future, is good news for retail investors and for the many exciting start-ups and expanding businesses up and down the UK seeking growth capital. We anticipate further activity in this space in the months ahead as more VCT houses look to bring these popular products to market and as more early-stage businesses seek funding to scale their businesses. We are delighted to have worked with the Guinness Asset Management team on this successful launch.”
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