The showdown between Abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) and DL Invest Group, its largest shareholder, will take place in London on 20 February. DL has tabled resolutions to have itself appointed fund manager and the company’s wind-down stopped. ASLI, which has published a circular for the meeting, urges shareholders to vote against DL saying the wind-down is well advanced, with just four of its 27 original assets waiting to be sold, and the costs of setting up a new growth policy will be costly.
Full-year trading update from Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) shows the £914m private equity fund targeting technology, education, consumer and business services companies in Europe made an underlying 6% return last year with 90% of the valuation rise driven by earnings growth. The largest contributors to performance were vLex (now Clio), Phenna, TechInsights, North Sails and Bright Stars, but the share price decline in Time Out (TMO), the listed media group that the company backed in an £8m fund raising before Christmas, weighed.
Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData said: “Oakley Capital Investments has had a busy year, with meaningful deployment – £197m was invested across new platforms and follow-ons – alongside a healthy level of realisations – £92m of proceeds shows that exits and refinancings remain achievable despite a still-cautious backdrop. The quality of growth in net asset value (NAV) is also encouraging. The 6% total NAV return was driven overwhelmingly by fundamentals rather than multiple expansion. It should also leave OCI well placed if sentiment improves from here.
“We’ve long argued that OCI deserves to be on a tighter discount and are pleased to see this finally coming through. The buyback programme has clearly helped, providing decent NAV accretion for remaining shareholders in the process, so we are pleased to see a commitment to at least a further £20m of buybacks in 2026.”
Literacy Capital (BOOK), the £244m UK private equity fund, expects total investment return for 2025 to be only “modestly positive” after a fourth quarter decline in net asset value (NAV) from “softer trading” at portfolio companies RCI, a healthcare services provider, and Grayce, an IT consultant. BOOK is net cash after three disposals in the past six months at an average 39% premium over NAV.
Henderson Smaller Companies (HSL), a former buyback sceptic, bought 12% of its shares in the half year to 30 November in response to its 9% share price discount. However, the £536m portfolio’s 5% investment return lagged the 7.4% rise in its Deutsche Numis benchmark. Former long-standing manager Neil Hermon retired in September with Indri van Hien, his deputy at Janus Henderson, taking charge with assistance from recent Gresham House recruit Cassie Herlihy and Shiv Sedani.
AEW UK REIT (AEWU) increased cover for its quarterly 2p dividend with 2.36p earnings per share in the last three months of 2025. The 7.5%-yielder made an underlying return of 2% for shareholders, all of it from the dividend as the commercial property portfolio slipped 0.3%. Retail warehouses, accounting for 14% of the £215m portfolio, was the only positive sector in the quarter, returning 3%. Industrials and offices, accounting for over 47% of assets, fell 0.85% and 3.75% respectively.
Molten Ventures (GROW), the £896m investor in unquoted tech firms, will launch a new £10m share buyback programme once the current one started in October expires. The venture capital fund stands on a 29% discount. It has now committed £60m to share buybacks since July 2024.
Partners Group Private Equity (PEY) has used only €7.5m, or half, of its €15m share buyback programme since 8 October so will extend it through to 30 April to deploy the remainder. The £715m investment company stands on a 22% discount.
Murray Income Trust (MUT), the £887m UK equity income trust, is still finalising the switch from fund manager Aberdeen it announced in November, but expects Artemis will take over its portfolio from around 2 March once an investment management agreement and other documentation have been agreed.
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