Activist Saba Capital has taken a position of over 5% in GCP Infrastructure (GCP), sending the debt fund’s highly discounted shares 2.5% higher.
Adding to its sprawling list of stakes in UK-listed investment companies, the hedge fund this morning disclosed a 5.3% equity holding through total return swaps, a form of derivative.
GCP shares added 1.75p to 74.5p in anticipation of the New York firm pressing the GCP board to do more to address its 29% share price discount. The gain slightly narrowed the wide gap between the shares and analysts’ estimate of their net asset value of 101.8p. That’s not much different from the 101.4p of NAV per share that the company reported for its 30 September year-end in the annual report last month.
A spokesperson for the £606m investment company said: “We are aware that Saba is one of our shareholders. The board’s priority continues to be the protection and enhancement of value for all of our shareholders as we continue to progress our capital allocation plan.”
Saba’s emergence on the share register comes as shareholders in the lender to infrastructure projects wait for news of a big disposal by fund manager Gravis Capital. The results in December said the investment adviser was “actively progressing transactions”. It is hoped one or all of these could reward shareholders in the depressed stock with a sizeable return of capital, in addition to the share buybacks and quarterly dividends the 9.6%-yielder pays.
