Stuart Veale, Beringea managing director, says: ‘We are currently seeing a strong flow of deals, many of which require up to £2 million of equity capital.’

A key feature of the new issue, according to Beringea, is the intention to return up to 25p (per £1 invested) of the shareholders’ original investment after five years, through a combination of dividends and a Partial Offer.

Under the Partial Offer, the VCT will offer to buy back shares at Net Asset Value (NAV), giving investors the opportunity to realise part of their investment without having to sell shares at a discount on the secondary market.

Jeff Cornish, director at Beringea, comments: ‘The weak secondary market for VCT shares means that they are often hard to sell. By introducing a Partial Offer we have tried to address this issue so that investors can sell a portion of their shares at no discount to the NAV after five years, thereby helping to increase liquidity and enhance their returns from the VCT.’