Oxford Technology 2 VCT Regulatory News (OXH)

28 Jul 2021 11:08

Previous Chairman’s statements in Annual and Interim reports have regularly referred to a desire by the Board to seek to increase the asset base of the Company. The most recent report issued at the end of last month, stated: “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.

We can report, however, that we are in active negotiations which could provide the opportunity we have been seeking. We will update shareholders if and when any of these discussions reach a conclusion, and in any event, shareholder approval would then be required before any transaction could proceed.”

The Board of OT2 is pleased to provide a further update to enable more open discussions at the two 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.Discussions continue with two parties whose identities are currently confidential, either of whom would be a good partner to work with. Both would look to raise funds in a new share class, consistent with the Board’s stated aim to seek to raise the Company’s net assets, to enable the running costs to be shared more widely and create fund longevity for those shareholders with deferred capital gains.

In addition, consideration is also being given to the merits of one of more of the other OT VCTs merging with OT2 at the same time (using a scheme of arrangement that will preserve existing shareholders tax benefits). Any such merged funds would be into separate share classes of OT2 to ensure shareholders suffer no dilution of their individual portfolio holdings.

Any fund raise (and merger if applicable) is subject to the OT2 Board agreeing acceptable terms with one of the two parties, as well as OT2 shareholder agreement at a separate EGM. Furthermore, in the case of any merger, it is also subject to approval by the Boards of any OT fund to be merged, as well as approval of that VCT’s shareholders.

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 try to ensure that any route selected by the Board(s) 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 for how to register for the webinar is on the website: www.oxfordtechnologyvct.com.

No dates have been determined yet for any general meetings required to actually give effect to any of the above potential proposals.

For more information, please contact Richard Roth, the Chairman, by emailing 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