Six sub-sectors for classifying Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) have been introduced by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) to expand on the current specialist and generalist categories.

Six sub-sectors for classifying Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) have been introduced by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) to expand on the current specialist and generalist categories.

The sectors are:

VCT Generalist

VCT AIM Quoted

VCT Specialist: Healthcare & Biotechnology

VCT Specialist: Environmental

VCT Specialist: Media, Leisure and Events

VCT Specialist: Technology

Daniel Godfrey, director general for the AIC says the system ‘should give investors and advisers the appropriate tools to help distinguish between different VCTs’.

Moreover, VCTs will be divided according to whether they meet the three-year investment rule, namely that they must have at least 70 per cent of their investments in qualifying investments, which must be realised within three years of a VCTs’ launch.

Godfrey continues: ‘This allow investors to distinguish more easily between VCTs that are fully invested and avoid the distortions that VCTs that have not yet met the investment criteria can have on performance averages.’