Bestinvest, the online investment and coaching service, has become the first investment platform to adopt fintech platform PrimaryBid’s innovative Fuse solution in order “to expand access to UK capital markets transactions for customers.”
Through Fuse, Bestinvest customers will “have significantly greater awareness and access to IPOs, follow ons and other UK public company capital raises.”
Do-It-Yourself investors signing up to the service “through Bestinvest benefit from new investment opportunities, the opportunity to invest at the same price as institutional investors, no stamp duty charges and zero commission when buying newly issued shares.”
Once customers sign up, they can choose “to receive instant deal notifications from PrimaryBid and take part in a range of transactions on PrimaryBid’s Mobile App or Transactional Web, including IPOs, placings, block sales, corporate bonds and gilts, before settling the securities back to their Bestinvest Investment accounts.”
Customers will enjoy a co-branded introduction “to primary markets with access to additional educational material to help them on their investment journey.”
Aside from IPOs, secondary capital raises by companies are often “done after market hours, are typically only open for a short time and can be priced at a discount.”
The combination of Bestinvest’s brand equity and customer reach, “alongside PrimaryBid’s technology, is expected to significantly increase adoption and participation in these capital market transactions.”
HM Treasury has driven regulatory change in “the last three years which unlocks individual investor access to public company fundraisings.”
However, retail investor awareness of this investment opportunity is “still low.”
A survey by PrimaryBid in 2022 found that only 8% of investors knew what a “follow-on” fundraising was. This partnership aims to “increase the visibility of primary markets to Bestinvest’s customers – with an educational first approach.”
Customers invest on the same terms and at the same price “as institutional investors – with no additional fees or stamp duty.”
Jason Hollands, Managing Director of Bestinvest, said:
“We’re pleased to be able to offer this as a new feature as part of our ongoing programme of improvements to Bestinvest since the platform relaunched in May 2022. Since the heyday of the large privatisations in the eighties, private shareholders have gradually become squeezed out when it comes to getting access to IPOs and new share issues. These are now typically undertaken through placements and book builds among institutional investors. The great thing about teaming up with PrimaryBid is that the service enables private investors to invest in new share issues on the same terms as institutional investors and not as second-class citizens.”
Nick Osborne, PrimaryBid’s Head of Distribution, added:
“This partnership is about providing more intelligent entry points into primary market transactions, about forging a space where learning and investing in capital markets are intertwined, and presenting a range of investment opportunities for self-directed investors.”
