VCT Terms & Conditions
1. The contract created by the acceptance of applications in the manner set out herein will be conditional upon the Admission of the Offer Shares to the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market for listed securities unless otherwise so resolved by the Board. If any application is not accepted or if any application is accepted for fewer Offer Shares than the number applied for, or if there is a surplus of funds from the application amount, the application monies or the balance of the amount paid on application will be returned without interest by post at the risk of the applicant. In the meantime application monies will be retained by the Company in a separate application account.
2. By completing and delivering an Application Form, you (as the applicant):
(a) irrevocably offer to subscribe for the amount of money specified in your Application Form which will be applied to purchase Offer Shares, subject to the provisions of (i) the Prospectus, (ii) these Terms and Conditions and (iii) the Memorandum and Articles; and (iv) any document mentioned in paragraph (h) below;
(b) authorise the Company’s Registrars to send definitive documents of title for the number of Offer Shares for which your application is accepted and to procure that your name is placed on the register of members of the Company in respect of such Offer Shares and authorise the Receiving Agent to send you a crossed cheque for any monies returnable, by post to your address as set out in your Application Form;
(c) agree, in consideration of the Company agreeing that it will not, prior to the closing date of the Offer, offer any Offer Shares to any persons other than by means of the procedures set out or referred to in the Prospectus, that your application may not be revoked until the closing date of the Offer, and that this paragraph constitutes a collateral contract between you and the Company which will become binding upon dispatch by post or delivery by hand of your Application Form duly completed to the Receiving Agent;
(d) understand that, you will not be entitled to receive certificates for the Offer Shares applied for or to enjoy or receive any rights or distributions in respect of such Offer Shares unless and until you make payment in cleared funds for such Offer Shares and such payment is accepted by the Company and that at any time prior to unconditional acceptance by the Company of such late payment in respect of such Offer Shares, the Company may (without prejudice to its other rights) treat the agreement to allot such Offer Shares as void and may allot such Offer Shares to some other person in which case you will not be entitled to any refund or payment in respect of such Offer Shares (other than return of such late payment);
(e) agree that monies subscribed for Offer Shares will be
held for the account of the Company pending allotment of Offer Shares (which may not take place until several weeks after cleared funds have been received) and that all interest thereon shall belong to the Company and further that any documents of title and any monies returnable to you may be retained pending clearance of your remittance and that such monies will not bear interest;
(f) agree that all applications, acceptances of applications and contracts resulting therefrom will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, English law and that you submit to the jurisdiction of the English courts and agree that nothing shall limit the right of the Company to bring any action, suit or proceeding arising out of or in connection with any such applications, acceptances of applications and contracts in any other manner permitted by law or in any court of competent jurisdiction;
(g) agree that, in respect of those Offer Shares for which your application has been received and processed and not refused, acceptance of your application shall be constituted by inclusion in an allotment of Offer Shares to you by the Receiving Agent;
(h) agree that, having had the opportunity to read the Prospectus and any supplementary prospectus issued by the Company and filed with the FCA, you shall be deemed to have had notice of all information and representations concerning the Company contained herein and in any supplementary prospectus issued by the Company and filed with the FCA and in any announcement made by the Company on an appropriate Regulatory Information Service (whether or not so read);
(i) agree that all documents in connection with the Offer and any returned monies will be sent at your risk and maybe sent by post to you at your address as set out in the Application Form;
(j) confirm that in making such application you are not relying on any information or representation in relation to the Company other than those contained in the Prospectus and any supplementary prospectus filed with the FCA and you accordingly agree that no person responsible solely or jointly for the Prospectus and/or any supplementary prospectus or any part thereof or involved in the preparation thereof shall have any liability for any such information or representation;
(k) confirm that you have reviewed the restrictions contained in this paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 below and warrant as provided therein;
(l) warrant that you are not under the age of 18 years;
(m) agree that such Application Form is addressed to the Company, Beaumont Cornish Limited and the Receiving Agent;
(n) agree to provide the Company and/or the Receiving Agent with any information which either may request in connection with your application and/ or in order to comply
with the Venture Capital Trust or other relevant legislation and/or the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (as the same may be amended from time to time);
(o) warrant that, in connection with your application, you have observed the laws of all relevant territories, obtained any requisite governmental or other consents, complied with all requisite formalities and paid any issue, transfer or other taxes due in connection with your application in any territory and that you have not taken any action which will or may result in the Company, Beaumont Cornish Limited, the Receiving Agent or Calculus Capital acting in breach of the regulatory or legal requirements of any territory in connection with the Offer or your application;
(p) agree that neither Calculus Capital nor Beaumont Cornish Limited will regard you as its customer by virtue of you having made an application for Offer Shares or by virtue of such application being accepted; and
(q) declare that a loan has not been made to you or any associate, which would not have been made or not have been made on the same terms, but for you offering to subscribe for, or acquiring Offer Shares and that the Offer Shares are being acquired for bona fide commercial purposes and not as part of a scheme of arrangement the main purpose of which, or one of the main purposes of which, is the avoidance of tax.
(r) may not apply if you are a citizen of the United States of America or a resident of the United States of America for tax purposes (“US Person”). Accordingly, by completing an Application Form, you confirm and warrant that you are not a US Person.
3. No action has been or will be taken in any jurisdiction by, or on behalf of, the Company which would permit a public offer of Offer Shares in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than the United Kingdom, nor has any such action been taken with respect to the possession or distribution of this document other than in the United Kingdom. No person receiving a copy of this document or any supplementary prospectus filed with the FCA or an Application Form in any territory other than the United Kingdom may treat the same as constituting an invitation or offer to him nor should he in any event use such Application Form unless, in the relevant territory, such an invitation or offer could lawfully be made to him or such Application Form could lawfully be used without contravention of any registration or other legal requirements. It is the responsibility of any person outside the United Kingdom wishing to make an application for Offer Shares to satisfy himself as to full observance of the laws of any relevant territory in connection therewith, including obtaining any requisite governmental or other consents, observing any other formalities required to be observed in such territory and paying any issue, transfer or other taxes required to be paid in such territory.
4. The basis of allocation will be determined by the Company (after consultation with Beaumont Cornish Limited) in its absolute discretion. It is intended that applications will be accepted in the order in which they are received. The Offer will be closed on 1 October 2025 (3 April 2025 in respect of applications for the 2024/25 tax year) or as soon as full subscription is reached (unless extended by the Directors or closed earlier at their discretion). Shares may be allotted notwithstanding that the Offer is not subscribed in full and the right is reserved, notwithstanding the basis so determined, to reject in whole or in part and/or scale down any application, in particular multiple and suspected multiple applications, which may otherwise be accepted. Application monies not accepted or if the Offer is withdrawn will be returned to the applicant in full by means of a cheque, posted at the applicant’s risk. The right is also reserved to treat as valid any application not complying fully with these terms and conditions of application or not in all respects complying with the application procedures contained in the Application Form. In particular, but without limitation, the Company (after consultation with Beaumont Cornish Limited) may accept applications made otherwise than by completion of an Application Form where the applicant has agreed in some other manner to apply in accordance with these terms and conditions. The Offer is not underwritten. The Offer will be suspended if at any time any of the Company is prohibited by statute or other regulations from issuing Offer Shares.
5. Save where the context requires otherwise, terms defined in the Prospectus and any supplementary prospectus filed with the FCA bear the same meaning when used in these terms and conditions of application and in the Application Form.
6. Authorised financial intermediaries who, acting on behalf of their clients where those clients are non-advised Investors (and an enhanced value service has been provided in accordance with the extended prohibition on inducements under FCA rules) or where their client are ‘professional clients’ under the FCA Rules who have received only restricted advice, return valid Application Forms bearing their stamp and FCA number will normally be paid 2.0% commission on the amount payable in respect of the Offer Shares allocated for each such Application Form. In addition, provided they continue to act for their client and the client continues to hold such Offer Shares, such intermediaries will be paid an annual trail commission of 0.5% of the net asset base value for each such Offer Share. For this purpose, “net asset base value” means the net assets attributable to the Offer Share in question as determined from the audited annual accounts of the Company as at the end of the preceding financial year. It is expected that annual trail commission will be paid 5 months after the year end of the Company in each year. The administration of annual trail commission will be managed by the Promoter which will maintain a register of intermediaries entitled to trail commission. The Promoter shall be entitled to rely on a notification from a client that they has changed his adviser, in which case, the trail commission will cease to be payable to the original adviser and will be payable to the new adviser if one is appointed. No payment of trail commission shall be made to the extent that the cumulative trail commission would exceed 3.0% of the amount subscribed for each such Offer Share or in respect of any period commencing after the sixth anniversary of the closing date of the Offer. Financial intermediaries should keep a record of Application Forms submitted bearing their stamp to substantiate any claim for commission. The Receiving Agent will collate the Application Forms bearing the financial intermediaries’ stamps and calculate the initial commission payable which will be paid within one month of the allotment.
7. Financial intermediaries may agree to waive initial commission in respect of your application. If this is the case then the amount of your application will be increased by an amount equivalent to the amount of commission waived through the mechanism of the Pricing Formula. A super early bird discount of 2% will be applied to applications up to the first £2m raised, or until 17 December 2024 – whichever is reached first. An early bird discount of 1.5% will be applied to applications up to a further £2m raised, or until 19 February 2025 – whichever is reached first. Existing Shareholders will be entitled to an additional 0.5% loyalty discount on applications received at any time prior to the closing of the Offer. All such early application and loyalty discounts will be applied through the mechanism of the Pricing Formula.
8. Where Application Forms are returned by you or on your behalf by an authorised financial intermediary who has given you a personal recommendation in respect of your application having first categorised you as a retail client under the FCA Rules, the Company will facilitate the payment of any Adviser Charge agreed between you and your intermediary, as validated by your completion of the relevant box on the Application Form. The amount of the agreed Adviser Charge will be facilitated by the Company making a payment equal to the Adviser Charge direct to the intermediary which will be taken into account when applying the Pricing Formula to your subscription, and will reduce, the number of Offer Shares which are issued to you on the basis set out on page 17 of the Prospectus.
9. There has been no material disparity in the past year (from the date of this document), nor shall there be under the Offer in the effective cash cost of Offer Shares to members of the public as compared with the effective cash cost of Offer Shares to members of the Company’s management (including its administrative and supervisory bodies) or their affiliates.
10. Where Application Forms are returned on your behalf by an authorised financial intermediary, the Promoter at its sole discretion will determine the Promoter’s Fee applicable to your application for Offer Shares, subject to a maximum of 5.0% of the initial Net Asset Value per Offer Share.
11. Non-material amendments to these terms or to the procedure for making applications under the Offer may be made at the discretion of the Directors without giving prior notice to applicants.
Lodging of Application Forms and dealing arrangements
Completed Application Forms with the appropriate remittance must be posted or delivered by hand on Business Day between 9.00am and 5.00pm to the Receiving Agent. The Offer opens on 14 October 2024 and will close on 1 October 2025, or earlier at the discretion of the Directors.
If you post your Application Form, you are recommended to use first class post and to allow at least two Business Days for delivery. It is expected that dealings in the Offer Shares will commence three Business Days following allotment and that share certificates will be dispatched ten business days of allotment of the Offer Shares. Allotments will be announced on an appropriate Regulatory Information Service. Temporary documents of title will not be issued.
Dealings prior to receipt of share certificates will be at the risk of applicants. A person so dealing must recognise the risk that an application may not have been accepted to the extent anticipated or at all. To the extent that any application is not accepted any excess payment will be returned without interest by returning the applicant’s cheque or banker’s draft or by sending a crossed cheque in favour of the applicant through the post, at the risk of the person entitled thereto.