Fern’s Rights Issue offer
Existing Octopus Inheritance Tax Service investors can top up, meeting the two-year holding period and gaining immediate inheritance tax relief
About the offer
The Octopus Inheritance Tax Service is a discretionary managed portfolio service. Through this Service Octopus has invested client money into a company called Fern Trading Limited.
The Board of Fern is offering shareholders the opportunity to acquire additional shares through a Rights Issue. This is an excellent opportunity for investors in the Service to add to their investment.
Fern is expected to make a 3:1 Rights Issue offer. This means it expects to offer shareholders the opportunity to purchase up to three new shares for every existing share they own.
Funds received from existing investors before 12 October 2023 will be used to purchase shares under the Rights Issue offer.
These shares will be priced on the date of allotment (expected to be on or around 18 October 2023). They will form part of their portfolio alongside their existing investment in the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service with the same terms and conditions and subject to the fees and charges.
Key benefits
* If your client has held their existing investment for more than two years, they can benefit from immediate inheritance tax relief on their top-up investment.
If your client hasn’t held their investment for more than two years, their top-up investment should still benefit from faster inheritance tax relief. For example, if they made their original investment one year ago, they’d only have to wait one year for their entire portfolio (existing and top up investment) to become free from inheritance tax.
Key risks
Please remember that the value of an investment in the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service could fall as well as rise, and you might not get back the full amount invested.
Fern, or any other company we choose to invest in within the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service, is an unquoted company not listed on any Stock Exchange, which means that shares can be difficult to sell.
Investments within Octopus Inheritance Tax Service are managed in such a way to qualify for business relief but qualification cannot be guaranteed. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances, and tax rules could change in the future.
Tax relief depends on Fern continuing to qualify for business relief in the future, not just today.
Why Fern is raising money
The Octopus Inheritance Tax Service invests in companies that target predictable growth over the long term. We have carefully grown Fern over the last thirteen years into a well-diversified business.
Fern continues to grow steadily across all its divisions, growing in sectors it knows well.
The current macro-economic environment has presented an attractive opportunity for Fern to boost its growth, particularly in its renewable energy, fibre, and housebuilding divisions.
The economic headwinds have proven challenging for many operating in the same sectors as Fern.
In particular, operators who may have relied on debt to fund their acquisitions have seen the cost of finance rise significantly. This has made them less acquisitive and competitive.
With fewer parties competing with Fern for the best quality assets, an opportunity has emerged for the business to accelerate its growth in key sectors.
This is only adds to the existing strength of Fern, which has a revenue generating business model and comprises a group of companies all with sufficient access to capital.
Key resources
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