On 22 October 2021, GRIT Investment Trust announced the new board appointments of Richard Lockwood and Malcolm Burne, both of whom were veteran fund managers, with exceptional records in the natural resources sector, together with plans to progress its plans to commence the re-building of a diverse portfolio of natural resources investments.
The principal investment is its 25% equity interest in and loans to Anglo-African Minerals (AAM) located in Guinea. In June it said that as any immediate sale of that asset appeared unlikely, it was valuing the investment in and loans to AAM nil value.
On 29 July 2022, the company announced that it had agreed with the holders of the outstanding £599,201 convertible loan notes issued pursuant to a loan note instrument dated 30 July 2021, to extend the final redemption date from 31 July 2022 to 30 September 2022.
Since the appointment of the new Board members as referred to above, the company has been progressing a possible issue of new shares to finance its ongoing investment policy as an investment trust. This process involved seeking approval for the publication of a prospectus, a process which subject to confirmation of the amount to be raised was nearing completion, and also seeking either internal authorisation as, or the external appointment of, an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM).
However, the board has regrettably come to the conclusion that due both to the difficulties of completing this latter process and the prevailing lack of positive market sentiment towards the resource sector, the planned re-establishment of the company as an active resource-focused investment trust has become unachievable.
Accordingly, the company has therefore withdrawn both its AIFM and prospectus applications and will not be making any further investments in accordance with its investment policy. It will however monitor its remaining existing investments with a view to realising any value for the benefit of the company and its shareholders.
In the light of the above, the board has decided that it will be in the best interest of its shareholders to look for a business to acquire that would constitute a reverse takeover and require shareholder approval. In conjunction with such an acquisition, it would seek a new listing for the enlarged group on an appropriate public market. The board has given itself a period of 12 months from the date of this announcement to find a suitable reverse candidate before cancellation of its listing is put forward to shareholders. A further announcement will be made as appropriate in due course.