HgCapital Trust (HGT) private equity fund manager Hg has sold its holding in Intelerad, a medical imaging software provider, to GE Healthcare in a transaction valuing the company at $2.3bn. HgT’s stake in Intelerad was valued at £52m, a £20m, or 62%, uplift over the £32m carrying value at 30 September. This lifts the investment trust’s net asset value per share by 4.4p to 553.9p, valuing the portfolio at £2.5bn. The shares stand on a 14% discount giving HGT a market value of £2.1bn. Earlier this month the company announced it made a 2.4% return in the third quarter.
GCP Infrastructure (GCP), the £587m investor in renewable energy, PFI and social housing projects, has set up an investor portal to provide easy access to information on its portfolio of investments, including cash flow forecasts for each holding. Fund manager Gravis has invested in the development of its proprietary, in-house, investment management software Carapace to provide the portal. It will not contain any inside information that has not otherwise been announced to the market. Shareholders seeking access should e-mail: [email protected]. The move is part of efforts to narrow the 30% share price discount.
The three Northern venture capital trusts (VCTs) run by Mercia Asset Management have reported half-year results for the six months to 30 September, a period that saw them invest a total of £7m in Thanks Ben, an employee benefits platform. Northern Venture Trust (NVT) posted a 0.8p rise to 60.7p in net asset value per share and declared a 1.6% dividend under its 5% yield policy. It closed with net assets of £131.7m up from £121.3m. Northern 2 (NTV) lifted NAV per share by 0.9p to 57.7p, closing with £138.4m up from £128.1m, and declared a 1.7p dividend. Northern 3 VCT (NTN) increased NAV per share by 1.6p to 89.2p with assets adding £1.7m to £131.8m. It declared a 2p dividend. All three were boosted by the £300m flotation of Beauty Tech Group (TBTG) last month which NTN chair James Ferguson described as a “really positive step”.
City of London Investment Management has disclosed a 40% holding in Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEML), up from 39.3%. The increase in the holding, above the 30% level that could normally require CoL to bid for the company if it bought more shares, follows FEM’s purchase earlier this month of a 25.7% stake held by Stratchclyde Pension Fund. This has reduced the company’s market value to £452m. The shares stand on an 8% discount and have rallied 47% in the past year.
Foresight Solar (FSFL) declares a third quarter dividend of 2.025p per share and confirms its annual dividend target of 8.1p a day after announcing a 5.9% decline in net asset value in the three months to 30 September.
Sirius Real Estate (SRE), the £1.4bn owner of business and industrial parks in the UK and Germany, has completed the acquisition of a business park in Feldkirchen, Munich, Germany, for €43.7m which it announced last month.
Custodian Property Income (CREI), the £362m investor in smaller, regional commercial properties in the UK, yesterday bought back another 150,000 shares at 79p at a cost of £118,500. It has spent £3.4m purchasing a total of 4.3m shares under the current buyback programme at an average 17.8% discount to net asset value. The company currently stands on a 21% discount.
