Oxford Technology Strategy/Company/Operations Update
28 July 2021 - 9:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMOXT
The Board of Oxford Technology VCT Plc is pleased to provide an
update ahead of discussions at the forthcoming shareholders events.
The first takes place at 2pm today in Oxford and the second one, a
webinar, will be at 10.30am on Thursday 12 August (details below).
No additional price sensitive information will be shared during
these forums.
The chairman's statement in OT1's annual report for the 12
months ending 28 February 2021 states:
"We continue to believe your VCT is an appropriate structure to
hold your Company's investments, but as we have often stated, it
would be preferable to have a larger asset base to share the
operating costs. Shareholders will be aware that for a number of
years, we have sought to find a partner interested in using the
existing VCT structure to launch its own share offering, and hence
enabling us to expand our asset base, and further efforts have
continued in the last few months in this regard. We have had
detailed conversations with many other prospective parties who are
potentially interested in entering the VCT industry, and some of
these conversations are progressing.
At the half year, we further indicated that the Boards of the
four Oxford Technology VCTs were reviewing once again the merits of
merging some, or all, of the companies, given the relentless upward
trajectory of regulatory costs and the ongoing challenges of
maintaining VCT status, due to the very small size of each of the
companies. There are very significant costs to effect such a
merger: a drawback of operating each company on a limited budget
and where possible consolidating activities, is that it makes the
payback period of any such merger a number of years, and the
Directors continue to assess whether the payback period of such
a transaction is viable. Such a transaction is not without risk and
it is by no means clear that it would be in your Company's best
interests to participate in such a transaction.
We will update shareholders if and when these discussions reach
a conclusion, and in any event, shareholder approval would then be
required before any transaction could proceed. We have always made
clear that there is no certainty that either strategic route (a
merger or increasing the asset base with a new manager) can be
successful but the Directors will continue seeking such
opportunities where possible".
One of the other VCTs in the Oxford 'stable', namely Oxford
Technology 2 VCT Plc ("OT2"), has today announced that it is in
discussions with two parties (whose identities are currently
confidential), either of whom would be a good partner to work with.
Your Board are giving consideration to the merits of merging with
OT2 at the same time (using a scheme of arrangement that will
preserve existing shareholders tax benefits). Any such merged funds
would become a separate share class of OT2 to ensure shareholders
suffer no dilution of their individual portfolio holdings.
As stated previously, there is no certainty that any of the
above options will conclude. However, we are keen to explore these
concepts with shareholders so that we can ensure any route selected
by your Board is likely to be met with shareholder approval were it
to be sought. In any event we will be seeking shareholder approval
at the AGM for the continuation of the VCT.
Both shareholder informal forums will include a presentation
from OTM followed by a shareholder Q&A to include future
strategy. There will be selected investee video presentations.
Details of how to register for the webinar are on the website:
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=fRiawHe7GEyx7tG5EdH0cMpwpYPKy58MP7y-0HSo4y4YWxE_I6WX07jJwENG-wSRlfRn7aFp6Wmug2c_9RW-MaTUGjYqDBIt3YdCUJJ9jasbNGTdI-a90SnKI4LWq0Sk
www.oxfordtechnologyvct.com.
No dates have been determined yet for any general meetings that
may be required to effect any of the above potential proposals.
For more information, please contact Alex Starling, Chairman, by
emailing
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=66v586FiNL3vWmuXyk4bOBb8AlEGyXQNNXgpSp6hHA0g_qJqMdpeqKmeS8JvyZvgqnFfKAeF6HbljuBVQDNHN0X_qsWIa90KtzU39L3RYks4iwPUbmMWLnLJOOdfZpbr
vcts@oxfordtechnology.com
This announcement contains inside information as stipulated
under the UK version of the Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014
which is part of English Law by virtue of the European (Withdrawal)
Act 2018, as amended. Upon the publication of this announcement via
a Regulatory Information Service, this information is now
considered to be in the public domain
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 28, 2021 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)
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