A series of top-up offers launched by four Baronsmead venture capital trusts (VCTs) have been awarded five-star ratings by Bestinvest.

Senior research analyst at Bestinvest, Ben Seager-Scott, said the top-ups, which opened today, are likely to be filled quickly due to the popularity of the Baronsmead and Baronsmead 2, 3 and 4 VCTs among investors.

ISIS Equity Partners, which manages the Baronsmead VCTs, confirmed that each company is looking to raise £4.135 million from the offers in order to make further investments, maintain liquidity and enable payment of dividends and costs.

Investors will have the choice of allocating money equally across all the VCTs in the offer, or choosing between them, subject to a minimum investment of £1,000 per offer.

Seager-Scott said the investment management team behind the VCTs was experienced and ‘highly regarded’ within the industry, making use of a proprietary ‘origination’ system that monitors deal flows and identifies potential opportunities.

‘They also carry out extensive due diligence on investee companies and a superior level of ongoing monitoring, in my opinion.’

He continued, ‘Baronsmead VCTs have a strong track record of making solid deals and providing good returns to investors. Whilst past performance is no guide to future performance, it does add confidence in the investment management team’s ability to identify and execute good deals.’

Since their respective launches, the VCTs have paid average annual dividends of 6.1p per share, while over the last five years, they have paid an average annual dividend of 7.3p per share.

It is intended that shareholders in the VCTs receive dividends twice a year, which means that investors who put money in each of the four offers can expect to receive two dividend payments four times a year.

The closing date for the offers is 5 April this year.