Venture capital trust launch for NVM

Northern Venture Managers (NVM) in September announced of a new GBP20 million venture capital trust. The issue will be the first from NVM since it was acquired in June this year by Edinburgh Fund Managers Group (see EVCJ July/August 2000, p8). It is hoped that the fund will close just before Christmas. Investments will focus on new Alternative Investment Market issues, pre-flotation placings by unlisted companies and later-stage venture capital investments. Edinburgh Fund Managers’ smaller companies investment team will manage the initial proceeds of the issue, which will be invested mainly in smaller, listed companies, with funds progressively being drawn down by NVM as the AIM and unquoted portfolio is developed over a two- to three-year period. The company aims to make around 35 to 40 investments with an average size of around GBP400,000 to GBP500,000. Norman Yarrow, director of NVM, says both NVM and Edinburgh Fund Managers are excited about the launch of the trust and the prospect of “feeding off each other’s expertise” in the relevant fields. Investors in the new trust will benefit from both NVM’s expertise in investing in unquoted deals and from Edinburgh fund Managers’ smaller companies investment experience.

NVM currently has GBP105 million of assets under management in three funds. Northern Investors Company, a London-listed venture capital investment trust has a 16-year unbroken growth record and NVM’s two existing VCTs, Northern Venture Trust and Northern 2 VCT, have raised a total of GBP65 million to date from private investors. In June, NVM was lead investor in a GBP6.5 million finance-raising package for technology company PrismTech. Earlier this year, the company was also involved in the MBOs of T&D Packaging, a producer of industrial packaging, and Tolwood, a manufacturer of pressed metal assemblies and fastener nuts for the automotive industry.