Value and Income to focus on property – Value and Income has published a circular to convene a meeting of shareholders at which shareholders will be asked to approve a new investment policy. The plan is to shift towards a portfolio predominantly invested in property. The equity manager has already resigned. The lead equity manager, Patrick Harrington, will join the property manager to oversee the winding down of the existing portfolio and supervise property backed equity holdings in the ongoing portfolio. The board is also proposing to change the name of the company to Value and Indexed Property Income Trust PLC.
The thinking is that now is a good time to be investing in properties mainly in the industrial, leisure and supermarket sectors let on long leases with index-linked rents.
Here is the introductory text from the circular:
“The Board has undertaken a review of the Company’s objective and investment policy and has decided that in order to achieve the Company’s objectives and maintain its dividend record, the Company’s investment policy should be changed so that the Company will in future invest predominantly in property.
The purpose of the Circular is to set out the background to and reasons for the Board’s proposals, being to:
(i) change the Company’s investment policy to invest predominantly in property;
(ii) change the name of the Company to Value and Indexed Property Income Trust PLC to reflect the change in investment policy and the types of investments which the Company undertakes;
(iii) appoint OLIM Property Limited, the current manager of the Company’s property portfolio, (the “Property Manager”) as sole investment manager of the Company, with no change in the total investment management fee payable;
(iv) change the Company’s articles of association (the “Existing Articles”) to remove the requirement for a continuation vote at a general meeting in 2024 which if not passed will lead to a winding up
of the Company by 31 March 2027;
(v) reaffirm the Board’s intention to allow Shareholders an opportunity to exit at net asset value less costs in 2026;
(vi) use the existing authority granted at the 2020 annual general meeting to repurchase shares where these are available in the market at a material discount to net asset value, subject to the cash
requirements of the Company and the covenants attached to the Company’s borrowings; and
(vii) explain why the Board recommends that you vote in favour of the requisite resolutions to be proposed at the General Meeting.”
VIN : Value and Income to focus on property