OAM2681 OVCT 2 Prospectus aw12 - Clubfinance

PART FOUR –
THE INVESTMENT MANAGER
The investment manager of Octopus VCT 2 is Octopus Investments
Limited, one of the UK’s leading specialist fund management
companies with more than £2 billion under management across its
range of products (as at 31 December 2010). Octopus currently
manages 16 VCTs – more than any other fund manager. Financial
advisers voted Octopus ‘VCT Provider of the Year’ at the
Professional Adviser awards in each of 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Octopus was also named VCT Manager of the Year at the unquote”
British Private Equity Awards for 2010.
Octopus has more than 180 staff, including approximately 50
investment professionals, and has twice been voted as one of the
Top 100 Small and Medium-Sized Companies to Work For in the
Sunday Times. Octopus has also been rated AAA for financial
planning from Citywire for the last two years in succession.
In March 2009, following a rigorous competitive tender, Octopus was
appointed by Capital for Enterprise Limited (a company that is whollyowned
by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) to
manage a £30 million fund on behalf of the UK government and HSBC,
Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and The Royal Bank of Scotland.
THE OCTOPUS INVESTMENT TEAM
The investment team managing the investments of Octopus VCT 2
will comprise a number of investment specialists (including a
dedicated solar team). The team already manages five other VCTs,
which undertake lower-risk investments, including Octopus VCT plc
which was oversubscribed and successfully raised over £50 million in
2009/2010, making it the largest VCT initial fundraising ever. The
Octopus team includes the following individuals:
Mario Berti
Mario joined Octopus in 2010 to head the specialist finance team,
which currently has over £600 million in funds under management,
overseeing a diverse range of investments. Mario chairs the team’s
investment committee and is responsible for evaluating potential
investments to ensure they meet the funds’ investment mandates. Prior
to joining Octopus, Mario was a director at Rothschild.
Mario is a qualified Chartered Accountant and read PPE at
Oxford University.
Stuart Nicol
Stuart is responsible for the day-to-day management of five other
VCTs managed by Octopus, as well as mezzanine and flexible debt
investments. He focuses on evaluating and assessing potential investee
companies through to negotiation and documentation of deal terms
and portfolio management. Prior to joining Octopus he was part of the
team that set up and managed The Capital Fund (a £50 million regional
venture capital fund). He made 14 new investments and 10 follow-on
investments during his five years there. Stuart is actively involved in
helping foster entrepreneurship via his UK board position at The Indus
Entrepreneurs (TiE) where he is Co-President.
Stuart is a graduate of London Business School, RMA Sandhurst and
Loughborough University.
Matt Setchell
Since joining Octopus in July 2008, Matt has led investments into several
companies and worked on a number of other opportunities across
different sectors, including leisure, manufacturing, telecoms and energy.
More recently, Matt has been responsible for the specialist finance
team’s renewable energy investment strategy. In this role he led the
discussions that resulted in Octopus entering into partnership with
Lightsource. Matt is also responsible for sourcing and completing deals
in other renewable energy technologies.
Prior to joining Octopus, Matt was at Shore Capital where he worked
for over three years as an investment manager, focused on their Puma
VCTs. Prior to joining Shore Capital, Matt was a manager at
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Matt has an MBA from Cambridge and a degree in Economics and
Accounting from Bristol University. He is a member of the Chartered
Institute for Securities & Investment.
Benjamin Davis
Benjamin joined Octopus in 2010 and focuses on sourcing deal flow,
evaluating and assessing potential investee companies, negotiation,
documentation of deal terms and portfolio management. Prior to
joining Octopus he was at YFM Group where he led numerous
transactions and acted as board observer for companies in sectors
including technology, healthcare, retail and leisure. Prior to joining YFM,
Benjamin was an associate director at investment bank Interregnum
where he worked across the corporate finance and venture capital
investment teams in the UK and USA. Prior to this, Benjamin worked
as a consultant in the UK and New Zealand for blue chip companies
including Marks & Spencer, Securicor and Air New Zealand.
Benjamin has an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a first
class honours degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Kat Johnston
Kat joined the Specialist Finance team in early 2011 and is responsible
for sourcing and completing deals in renewable energy technologies.
Having started her career at IBM, Kat has spent the last eleven years
working in the solar photovoltaic industry with Solar Century, a leading
solar energy company specialising in solar panels and photovoltaic
systems. Initially focussed on the entrepreneurial aspects of the industry,
including raising significant venture capital investment, she has more
recently been structuring and negotiating large value project
finance deals.
Kat was awarded an MBA with distinction from London Business
School and has a degree in Mathematical Statistics and Operational
Research from Exeter University.
LIGHTSOURCE
Octopus will, through its collaboration with Lightsource, have access
to an experienced developer and operator of solar projects, in
respect of solar energy investments.
Lightsource is a company which is controlled independently of
Octopus, though in which Octopus Capital Limited (of which
Octopus is a wholly owned subsidiary) holds a 25% shareholding and
to which Octopus Capital Limited has provided a loan. Octopus
Capital Limited also has warrants in Lightsource which could increase
its shareholding to a maximum of 49.99% (the exercise of which
being dependent on the funding provided through Octopus managed
or introduced funds for solar opportunities sourced by Lightsource).
However, whilst Octopus Capital Limited will retain the economic
benefit of the shares held in Lightsource, the shareholding will not
confer on it more than 29.99% of the voting rights in Lightsource). It
is not intended that the VCT will make any investment in, or
otherwise remunerate, Lightsource directly.
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