The C Share issue was launched on Tuesday 8th of September, marking the beginning of a 12 month programme that will reportedly see up to 500 million ordinary and/or C Shares issued. The investment trust today announced that a total of 183 million C Shares will be issued at a price of £1.00 per share. A little under 171 million C Shares will be issued under the Placing, with a further c. 12 million C Shares to be issued pursuant to the "Offer for Subscription and Intermediaries Offer". At the hour of its launch, VPC had stated that the intention of this C Share issue was to raise proceeds of at least £200m at a price of £1.00 per C Share.
Andrew Adcock, Chairman of VPC Specialty Lending Investments PLC, commented on the raise:
"We are very pleased with the success of this fundraising in challenging market conditions. The Issue attracted a number of new investors to the Company with additional support provided by existing shareholders. The Company’s Investment Manager continues to see a strong pipeline of investment opportunities across a range of both existing and new specialty lending platforms, many of which are proprietary, that are expected to generate an attractive total return for our shareholders."
The newly issued C Shares will begin trading on the London Stock Exchange at 8am on 2ndOctober 2015. The ticker symbol for these shares will be VSLC. Jefferies acted as the sole broker, sponsor and bookrunner for the issue.
We expect the £183m to be deployed rapidly, with VPC citing “a strong pipeline” of investment opportunities across a range of platforms, sectors and geographies at the launch of the latest C Share issue. VPC deployed the £200m that was raised via an IPO in March at a clip of over $120m a month. The fresh £183m of C Share capital takes VPC’s fundraising total to date to £383m.
