With an investment in SA’s fast-growing premium retirement lifestyle sector

The sunset period for Section 12J venture capital investments ends on 30 June 2021, which means that there is still time to take advantage of the generous tax breaks this investment structure offers.

Of course, there’s more to a good investment than just a tax break, which is why Gidon Novick, founder of venture capital platform, Lucid Ventures, encourages prospective Section 12J investors to still take the time to carefully consider the investment opportunity they use to benefit from the tax deductions on offer until the end of June. 

“It is still possible to take advantage of Section 12J and offset your capital amount against your tax liability for the 2021/22 tax year,” Novick explains, “however, it’s important not to just rush into any Section12J fund in order to access this benefit, but rather to carefully weigh up your options and choose an investment that has the potential to add significant value over and above the tax break.” 

He points to the Lucid Ventures Retirement Living Fund as a prime example of such an investment that offers the combined benefit of tax efficiency and long-term growth potential.  

“The Lucid Ventures Retirement Living Fund not only gives investors the benefit of the Section12J tax deduction, but also provides them with an opportunity to take advantage of the potentially very competitive returns that we expect to see from SA’s premium retirement lifestyle sector in the long term,” he explains

The Lucid Ventures Retirement Living Fund has been designed to deliver these competitive long-term returns by means of a robust real estate asset underpin to the fund, in the form of high-end, well-designed retirement living facilities that will almost certainly increase significantly in value over time. And what is especially notable about these physical assets is that they cater for the needs of a market segment that is forecast to grow exponentially in the coming years.

“South Africa has a growing elderly population,” Novick points out, “and when you combine this with the aspirational retirement needs of an equally fast growing middle- and upper-income population segment, demand for top quality, well-designed retirement living facilities is likely to explode in years to come.”

The Lucid Retirement Living Fund has been specifically created to meet this growing demand, while providing investors with robust, sustainable long-term returns. The fund has already acquired prime land in Houghton and Rosebank, Johannesburg, for its first two premium retirement living developments.

And Lucid has also put together a highly experienced team of experts to manage all elements of the investment opportunity and underlying assets. From a management perspective, the fund is looked after by the formidable team of Gidon Novick, Leor Atie and Leonard Fine. Prior to founding Lucid,Novick, was a CEO of Comair and Discovery Vitality and the founder of niche airlines, Kulula.com and Lift. Atie is the co-founder of the highly successful telecoms company, Saicom, and Fine, brings over 60 years of business and private equity experience to the team. Between them, this vastly experienced investment team already manages a portfolio that has assets worth more than R400 million.

Overseeing the design and construction of the Lucid Retirement Lifestyle Fund is another very experienced team made up of Andrew Kuming, founder of Kuming & Staples, and well-known architect and development expert, Julian Katz.

And Rounding off the Lucid Retirement Living Fund management team are the operations management duo of Corene Breedt and Michael Sieff. They are the co-founders of leading retirement lifestyle company, SilverAgE, and have decades of experience in the design, delivery and management of game-changing elderly living and hospitality facilities.

According to Breedt, who has been instrumental in the lifestyle experience design of the retirement spaces, the facilities that will be financed by the Lucid Retirement Living Fund are set to revolutionise the premium retirement lifestyle industry.

“These are not your typical retirement homes,” she explains, “but rather a completely new way of thinking about retirement, and then creating bespoke, flexible, lifestyle opportunities that can be tailored to the changing needs of owners and residents over the remainder of their lives.”

The result of this thinking is a ‘retirement living for life’ solution that is modern, technologically advanced, centrally located and built around a high-end hospitality approach. And Novick emphasises that this lifestyle-enhancing approach to retirement translates to an equally compelling growth opportunity for investors.

“The combination of valuable real estate, growing demand and industry leading retirement living facilities allows us to confidently target double-figure returns for investors over the five-year term of the Section 12J fund structure,” he says, “but we are equally confident that the fund will continue to deliver very competitive returns far beyond those five years, and our investors have the option to stay invested after the 12J regulatory period and continue to capitalise on the growth of South Africa’s premium retirement lifestyle sector for many years to come.”

The Lucid Ventures Retirement Living Fund is open for Section 12J investments of between R1 million and R2,5 Million until 30 June 2021. For more information, prospective investors can contact Sara Reynolds at sara@lucidventures.co.za, or visit www.lucidventures.co.za.