In QuotedData’s morning briefing 7 May 2021:
- Shareholders have approved both a change of name and a revised investment Policy for Jupiter US Smaller Companies (JUS), which reflects the change of investment manager to US based Brown Advisory (click here to read our initiation note on the company which takes a detailed look at Brown’s approach and looks at what investors should expect to see from the new manager). Going forward, the trust will now be known as Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies. With regards to the investment policy, while this was broadly aligned with Brown Advisory’s investment approach, certain phraseology has been amended for consistency with how Brown Advisory describes its US Small-Cap Growth strategy. However, following advice prior to the adoption of the amended investment policy, the company has previously said that it is of the opinion that the amendments do not amount to material changes for the purposes of the Listing Rules, and therefore do not require prior FCA and Shareholder approval.
- Syncona has provided a brief update on the proposed IPO of its portfolio company, Gyroscope Therapeutics Holdings Plc, in which it highlights that Gyroscope has postponed plans for its initial public offering “in light of the current market conditions.” It was only three days ago (click here to see our comment in our daily briefing of 4 May 2021) that Syncona updated the market highlighting that Gyroscope has filed an amended registration statement on Form F-1 with the US SEC, which relates to a proposed IPO in the US of its American Depositary Shares. This statement disclosed an indicative pricing range for the proposed offering of US$20.00 – $22.00 per ADS, which Syncona said would represent an increase in value of its current shareholding in Gyroscope of £52-£72 million (or 7.7p-10.7p per Syncona share).
- John Laing Group Plc’s (JLG) board has confirms that it is in discussions with regarding a possible offer by KKR for the group. It is believed that KKR is interested in JLG for its infrastructure exposure. KKR is required, by no later than 5.00 p.m. on 3 June 2021, to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the Company or that it does not intend to make an offer (in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code).
We also have the results of US Solar Fund’s first issue since IPO (the fundraise was well supported and, despite the issue size being increased from US$105m to US$132m, a scaling back exercise is taking place), Liontrust ESG Trust’s proposed £150m IPO, a possible cash offer for St Modwen Properties and Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) C’s throwing the towel in with Barclays in favour of a new (undisclosed) investment.