Description
Company Description
Octopus is a group of companies which invests in the people, ideas and industries that will help to change the world.
We believe that the companies serving two of our most important needs - our financial wellbeing and our planet's future - are failing. And we want that to change. We want everything we do, whether that's in financial services or energy supply, to have a positive impact on the people it touches.
In our financial services business, we care as much about the impact our investments have, as we do about the returns that we generate for our investors. We manage more than £9.1 billion* on behalf of retail and institutional investors, specialising in renewable energy, real estate, smaller company and venture capital investing.
Our energy supply business - Octopus Energy, is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK. It has grown from start-up to more than 1.7 million customers over the last four years and is now the #1 rated UK energy supply business, and the only one to be recommended by Which? three years in a row.
Octopus Energy, Octopus Giving, Octopus Investments, Octopus Renewables, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Ventures, Seccl Technology and Octopus Wealth are all part of Octopus Group. Visit octopusgroup.com.
Job Description
The Brand:
The Company Secretariat team sits within the Octopus Investments division of Octopus and provides corporate compliance and governance services to Octopus group companies and Octopus managed funds. The team look after a variety of companies ranging from listed VCTs, FCA regulated entities, LLPs etc. that invests in renewable energy, healthcare, property and are exposed to a wide range of activities undertaken in these entities.
About the role:
We're looking for a Company Secretarial Assistant to work within the Company Secretariat team reporting to the Portfolio lead to assist them and 2 Assistant Company Secretaries in managing a portfolio of 6 funds investing in renewable energy, healthcare and fibre networks, with statutory compliance and corporate transaction support. The role will provide a varied exposure to all aspects of a Company's lifecycle and would be of interest to those who are looking to move from a professional services environment into an in-house role.
Deliverables:
- Statutory compliance
- Annual Report and accounts review and filings/Confirmation Statement filings/directors appointments and resignations/maintaining statutory registers/SAIL addresses etc.
- Support on Corporate actions:
- Assist the team with preparing the relevant documentation, forms and cover emails for group distributions, allotments, capital reductions, loan drawdowns.
- Support on transactions:
- Assist the team on sale and acquisition transaction projects, including: collating due diligence documents, preparing board resolutions, liaising with external lawyers, carry out post-completion filings and onboarding new acquisition entities.
- Board support
- Drafting agendas
- Publishing board papers
- Managing preparations for board meetings
- Minute taking at meetings
- Advising the boards on corporate governance matters
- Team tasks
- Keeping procedures and precedents up to date
- Updating the structure charts for the funds
- Assisting with ad hoc group restructures, strike offs and projects
- Updating Diligent Entities and the statutory registers
- Managing KYC requests in the portfolio
Qualifications
Ideally, you'll have some or all of the following qualifications, skills and job-related experience
- ICSA qualified (or part-qualified)
- Experience in a Company Secretariat team, preferably in professional services and or in a fund/investment firm.
- Must have experience in providing board support (including minute taking)
- Experience in supporting in corporate transaction work such as M&A's, group restructures (although training will be provided)
- Must be comfortable using technology and leveraging digital applications and media platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Office 365, board pack software (such as Board Intelligence) and entity management software (such as Diligent).
And to really stand out from the crowd, you will display the following qualities and characteristics:
- Self-motivated with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment
- Good analytical and numerical skills
- Positive, helpful and enthusiastic attitude
- Must be curious and seek to learn and improve
Additional Information
Our Values and DNA
At Octopus we don't just focus on what we do but also how we do it. Everyone shares our values of being straightforward, helpful and bold. And while these are the principles that guide us as an organisation, our DNA goes even further, by revealing our inner strengths:
We are loyal: we fully buy-in to the company's vision and believe in everything that Octopus stands for.
We are respectful: we live and breathe the Octopus values of being helpful, straightforward and bold.
We are resilient: we have an inner strength that means we never give in.
We are intellectually curious: we seek to understand how the world works and were always learning, adapting and improving.
We understand who our customers are: and because we know them really well, we always give them our very best.
What we offer Octopus has built an exciting and inclusive high-performance culture where employees feel empowered. This means we welcome discussions around flexible working hours. We also understand the value of diversity, and we have a team dedicated to promoting gender, ethnic, socio-economic, LGBT and disability equality, to make sure we back up our words with actions. All Octopus employees are given the opportunity to develop new skills, aim higher and accelerate their careers.