Beringea launches ProVen Legacy plc to help investors benefit from inheritance tax relief and announces its first two loans
ProVen Legacy plc has completed deals with healthcare marketing agency Cogora and fintech company Celoxica
London, 24 May 2017: Growth capital investor Beringea has launched a new lending company, ProVen Legacy plc (“ProVen Legacy”), and closed its first two deals. Healthcare media and marketing firm Cogora and fintech company Celoxica have received £500k and £250k loans respectively to support them in their next stage of growth. Both companies are existing investments of Beringea’s VCT funds; ProVen VCT and ProVen Growth & Income VCT.
ProVen Legacy is designed to help investors mitigate inheritance tax (IHT) and preserve their capital. Investors should be able to benefit from up to 100% tax relief from IHT on the value of their ProVen Legacy shares, provided that they have been held for at least two years and at the time of death. This strategy is designed to meet the conditions of Business Property Relief, a tax incentive established by the government to encourage investment into trading businesses. The investments into ProVen Legacy will be used to support growing companies across a range of industries as they enter the later stages of their scaling journeys, offering loans of up to £5m.
Mark Taylor, Partner at Beringea, explains: “ProVen Legacy was created to help investors address a growing inheritance tax problem, while enabling Beringea to support later stage businesses as they enter a crucial stage of growth. These businesses, whether they are existing portfolio companies looking to raise additional capital through debt funding, or companies in which Beringea hasn’t previously invested, have the potential to scale significantly, making a considerable contribution to the UK economy as they do.
“Having already increased their global footprint in their respective fields, Cogora and Celoxica are the ideal businesses to receive the first loans from ProVen Legacy. We look forward to seeing them through this new and exciting phase, and to making more substantial loans to other companies as ProVen Legacy becomes more established.”
Cogora sits at the heart of a community of 220,000 healthcare professionals. As well as publishing leading industry magazine Pulse, Cogora provides market research and strategic consultancy to healthcare organisations and uses this insight to build marketing campaigns and education programmes. In 2015, Beringea supported Cogora’s acquisition of PCM Healthcare, adding specialist capabilities in continuing medical education (CME) and communications, as well as expanding operations from the EU to the global market. Cogora will use this new funding to focus on further growth in 2017.
Headquartered in the UK with offices across Europe and the US, Celoxica helps financial institutions, including tier one global banks and trading houses, optimise the performance of their trading platforms. The ultra-low latency processing technology gives clients accelerated access to market data for the main equity, options, futures, fixed income and FX markets in Europe and the US, supporting automated trading applications that immediately react to changing market conditions. It also enables brokers to offer ultra-low latency direct market access to their customers, including pre-trade checks. Having secured £1.5m from Beringea in 2014, Celoxica will use this latest funding to further their sales growth in 2017. Jean-Marc Bouhelier, Executive Chairman and CEO at Celoxica said: “We’ve had a great relationship with Beringea since we first started working together in 2014. Beringea has been the perfect partner for us, through its network and its product offer, allowing us to scale-up our business without the need to raise further equity. ProVen Legacy is now an ideal vehicle for us – we were searching for a loan to support our sales growth in 2017. We’re grateful for the team’s support over the years and look forward to continuing our working relationship.”
Beringea provides support to growth businesses in the US and UK via its ProVen VCTs, Beringea Growth Finance (asset based and working capital lending), and now ProVen Legacy plc. It has £500m under management across its London and Michigan (US) based teams and has helped to scale successful British businesses, including luxury watch retailer Watchfinder, designer jewellery company Monica Vinader and global design and innovation company Fjord.
Notes to editor
Press contacts
Charlie Hamilton, e: charlie@fieldhouseassociates.com t:+44 (0)7500 804013
Iain Alexander, e: iain@fieldhouseassociates.com t:+44 (0)7500 828324
Ellie Crocker, e: ellie@fieldhouseassociates.com t:+44 (0)7901 947111
About Celoxica
Celoxica is a leading provider of hardware accelerated low-footprint, ultra-low latency market data, order entry and risk trading solutions for the global financial services industry. Headquartered in the UK with offices in Chicago and New York, Celoxica delivers trading solutions to automated trading firms, banks and brokers seeking to optimise the performance of their trading applications across multiple asset classes in all market conditions, whilst reducing their total cost of ownership.
Celoxica has offices in London, New York, Paris and Chicago.
Twitter: @Celoxica
Website: http://www.celoxica.com
About Cogora
Cogora, a healthcare marketing services company, sits at the heart of a highly engaged community of 220,000 healthcare professionals. For over 25 years Cogora has produced inspirational and incisive content through its market leading portfolio of media brands. Cogora collects data and insight through these brands, giving it a deep understanding of what its audiences want. Its in-house agency team then combines these resources to create innovative, flexible marketing strategies and medical education solutions that deliver predictable outcomes.
Twitter: @CorgoraGroup
Website: http://www.cogora.com
About Beringea
Beringea is one of the UK’s largest and most active growth capital investors. It supports high growth businesses with revenues over £1m p.a., investing between £1m and £20m to help companies scale.
With a successful investment track record spanning 35 years, Beringea has over £500m ($650m) under management and 65 portfolio companies across its US and UK offices. The company has delivered industry-leading investor returns, and has a history of strong partnerships with management teams, often reinvesting in its successful entrepreneurs. Its core areas for investment include digital media, business software and services, and e-commerce. With an extensive range of expertise across the team, and an ability for spotting and following opportunities, Beringea’s portfolio includes companies in a range of sectors, and its team continues to be at the forefront of emerging trends.
Twitter: @Beringea Website: www.beringea.co.uk
