Albion aims to raise £15m through top-up scheme for VCT investment

A VENTURE capital investment firm that holds stakes in a medical technology outfit in Edinburgh and a renewable energy plant in Perth has launched a “top-up” scheme to raise £15 million.

London-based Albion Ventures is raising the cash for its six venture capital trusts (VCTs), which currently focus on environmental schemes and healthcare businesses.

Albion Ventures’ existing portfolio already includes a £2.5m investment in Dysis Medical, an Edinburgh-based technology firm that has developed a scanner to help detect cervical cancer, and £2.9m pumped into Aim-quoted TEG Group, which has built an anaerobic digestion plant in Perth to turn food waste into electricity and heat.

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The investment firm has stakes in a total of 58 small companies, which are together worth nearly £190m. Since they were founded in 1996, Albion Ventures’ VCTs have paid out nearly £120m in dividends.

Patrick Reeve, managing partner at Albion Ventures, said: “Based on discussions with independent financial advisors and wealth managers, we are expecting demand to be at least as strong this year.”

Reeve added that, collectively, Albion Ventures’ portfolio of companies employ more than 3,900 staff, and the firms export more than £110m a year and spend more than £8m a year on research and development.

Investors hold a minimum of £6,000 and a maximum of £200,000 in shares in total in the six VCTs and have until 19 December to subscribe to the top-up offer.

Reeve said that previous top-up investments had appealed to pensioners who were looking for a “pension supplement” and also to those nearing retirement who had reinvested dividends from the VCTs to buy further shares.