LR 16.2 Requirements for listing

To be admitted to listing, a venture capital trust must comply with LR 2 (Requirements for listing - all securities) and LR 6 (Additional requirements for listing equity securities), subject to the modifications and additional conditions set out in LR 16.2.2 R to LR 16.2.10 R.

A venture capital trust must have obtained either:

1. (1)

   confirmation from HM Revenue and Customs that it qualifies as a venture capital trust, if it has been in existence for more than three years; or

2. (2)

   provisional approval from HM Revenue and Customs, if it has been in existence for less than three years.

A venture capital trust must satisfy the FSA that its directors and any investment managers have sufficient and satisfactory experience (usually over at least the preceding three years) in the management of a portfolio of investments of the size and type in which the venture capital trust proposes to invest.

The board of directors of a venture capital trust must be able to demonstrate that it will act independently of any investment managers of the venture capital trust.

A majority of the board must not be directors or employees, or former directors or employees of, or professional advisers to, the investment managers or any other company in the same group as the investment managers.

LR 6.1.3R (1)(a) (audited accounts for three years), LR 6.1.4 R (nature and duration of business activities) and LR 6.1.16 R (working capital) do not apply to a venture capital trust.

LR 6.1.3R (1)(b) to (f) apply to a venture capital trust to the extent that it has published accounts.

A venture capital trust must not control the companies in which it invests in such a way as to render them subsidiary undertakings until it has obtained approval as a venture capital trust from HM Revenue and Customs.

None of a venture capital trust's investments, other than in a venture capital trust or a company which would qualify as a venture capital trust if it were listed, must represent more than 15% by value of its investments.

No more than 20% of a venture capital trust's total assets may be invested in the securities of companies which are property companies.