Since the U.K. government decided to extend its tax-credit legislation, British leaseback companies are looking to set up shop in Canada, where coproduction stats continue to flourish and competition has been traditionally slim.

Invicta Capital, which opened it doors in England last April with a £250-million ($567.6 million) line from Societe General de Paris and another £100-million ($227 million) line from Barclays, is now launching a Canadian operation in Toronto to capitalize on the country’s burgeoning U.K. coproduction community, says Invicta Canada president Sandy Mackay-Smith, former VP counsel at Nelvana.

‘Up until recently, Grosvenor Park had most of the market here, but now that the British tax-credit legislation has been extended five years (as opposed to renewed on an annual basis) there’s incentive to set up operations outside the U.K.,’ says Mackay-Smith.

And, of course, establishing a permanent presence in Toronto gives the leaseback company greater access to Canadian and American clients.

‘The English see Canada as a solid place for entertainment,’ says Mackay-Smith. ‘Grosvenor has already realized the strength of this market.’

With the promise of providing coproducers a minimum 11% net return, with no recoupment, Invicta is looking to broker leaseback deals for film and television projects with budgets of at least $4 million.

‘Docs aren’t really appealing,’ says Mackay-Smith. ‘British film authorities discount the value of docs because they don’t have the same staying power [or budgets] as primetime drama and film.’

In its first year, Mackay says the company will help finance up to five projects, all of which must be partially produced (at least 20%) in the U.K. Copyright to the projects has to stay in Canada for at least 10 years, after which investors will get their money back. The company will also pay leaseback monies in advance, during production, at the same lending rates it gets from the banks, says Mackay-Smith, who confirms the new operation will have access to the equivalent of $900 million.

Leaseback maven and Invicta Capital founder Mohamed Yusef is mostly responsible for the company’s access and expertise. A former director of leaseback financing at U.K. financing firm Matrix for the past five years, Yusef decided to set out on his own earlier this year, taking with him the bulk of his Matrix team and investor pool.