Having just being screwed over royally by Freetrade I, for one, hope that the top dogs of this platform does not have the same ideas. Investing in the Freetrade platform is my biggest investment loss to date. I can’t help but feeling a bit uneasy as I have also invested in InvestEngine
Yeah I know the disclaimer of “Whenever you invest, your capital is at risk. This could mean the value of your investments goes down as well as up.” But this move is a kick in the balls.
From Freetrade’s email:
*"IG have agreed to pay £160 million for all shares in Freetrade. Different classes of shares will receive a different amount per share, in line with the rights attached to each class of share. Crowdfunding investors hold the following share classes which we anticipate will receive the following price per share: * • A Ordinary shares and B Investment shares will receive approximately £1.19 per share. • Series B1 shares will receive £2.08 per share. • Series B3 shares will receive £2.60 per share."
Yep. Same here. Freetrade firesale. £160m when the last round was £225m and once peaked at £650m. Thankfully I only invested in the early rounds so I am miraculously in profit. But my 2x return in 6 years is hardly stunning. I’ve had the EIS benefit, sure. But net-net a 2x return in 6 years feels underwhelming.
I assume Freetrade need the money to continue operating despite the “profit” they recently reported. The passed losses and daily operating costs now staff volumes appear to be high must eat funds from their bank account.
The staggered share class pricing is particularly jarring in Freetrades case. Does anyone know how the capital structure looks for IE? I have invested twice and got A shares but IE have got money from external sources as well. These larger institutions tend to structure deals massively in their favour in a way that crowdcube fails to do on behalf of the group of investors it represents.
They will probably increase prices again this year, seems to be a trend of theirs. I actually moved my normal shares to Hargreaves as was actually cheaper than Freetrade, ultimately ended up with them on T212. I do still have a large volume of Evraz sat in my ISA, but the fee is waived due to the current situation.
@MrMWB I am referring to having invested in the Freetrade trading platform itself via crowdcube. Same as here. I also invested in InvestEngine via Crowdcube.
Having said that, I have developed a dislike in freetrade a long time ago for a plethora of reasons and decided to find and move to another platform. Trading212 was all the buzz at that time but they had this waiting list, then I discovered Lightyear and moved to them. Best choice ever. Since then I got an invite to T212 and I do dabble a bit over there. I have about 3 grand invested there on a few tickers. Unfortunately I do not have 100% faith in T212 as every now and then I hear of complaints of some sort.
My ISA is here on InvestEngine but my individual stocks and shares GIA investments (example Apple, Microsoft, Coca-Cola etc) are on Lightyear. To date I have nothing but praise for Lightyear. ( shameless plug; but let me know if you want a signup link; 10 quid for you and me both if you sign up and fund the account with at least 50 quid)
In freetrade I only have 2 tickers left. Evraz, which I have written off as a complete loss and Phoenix Group, which is currently in the red by 5%. Once it breaks even and/or go in the green, I will sell, cash out and abandon freetrade for ever.
Back to my original opening post, I really hope that InvestEngine will not pull the same stunt on us investors that invested in the platform in good faith and trust.
shameless plug; but let me know if you want a signup link; 10 quid for you and me both if you sign up and fund the account with at least 50 quid)
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