Baronsmead to raise an extra #22m

Baronsmead VCT 3, managed by ISIS Equity Partners, is to raise up to £22m of additional funding in mid September by way of a C-share issue.

The fund will issue 22m shares at a price of 100p per share, and hope the money raised will enable it to spread risk across a larger number of investments. If the share issue is fully subscribed, the plan is to increase the number of companies in the portfolio towards 80. It currently stands at 56, with the level of qualifying VCT investments at over 85%.

If fully subscribed, the size of the fund will increase to around £60m NAV, and increase the number of shareholders from 2,000 to 3,000.

Baronsmead VCT 3 has performed well since its January 2001 launch, generating a total return of 36.2% up to June 30 this year, which compares favourable to the FTSE All-Share index which has produced a return of -2.9% over the same period.

ISIS spun out from parent company F&C Asset Management in June, and created an LLP in which F&C is a shareholder for reasons related to IFRS.