SpaceX, the Elon Musk rocket and satellite company backed by Baillie Gifford investment trusts Scottish Mortgage (SMT), Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI), Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA) and Schiehallion (MNTN), has merged with xAI, his artificial intelligence startup and developer of the Grok chatbot. It said the energy to properly develop AI is only available in space and from the sun. Bloomberg News has reported that the combined company is planning to price shares in an initial public offer (IPO) this summer at around $527, valuing the unquoted business at $1.25tn. Reuters says SpaceX generated around $8bn profit on $15-$16bn revenue last year. Scottish Mortgage currently holds 15.2% in SpaceX, Edinburgh Worldwide 16%, Baillie Gifford US Growth 11.4% and Schiehallion 13.8%.
Chrysalis (CHRY) backed Starling Bank has launched a push to sell its Engine software to US lenders as it tries to capitalise on their outdated technology. “The big focus this year is North America, focused on the US,” Engine chief executive Sam Everington told the Financial Times. Shares in the £512m growth capital fund fell on Friday after it disclosed a 3.7% fall in net asset value from the decline in the share price of Klarna and an “uncertainty discount” placed on insurer wefox. However, Starling, the challenger bank that accounts for over 53% of Chrysalis’ portfolio, made a £29.5m gain in the last quarter.
DL Invest, the 18% shareholder vying to halt the wind-down of Abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) and become its new fund manager, has responded to the circular published by the £112m real estate investment trust last week. It “respects the board’s perspective” that the wind-down is well advanced with 23 of 27 assets sold and “significant capital” returned to shareholders. However, reverting to the trust’s previous investment policy would allow the company to “explore opportunities aligned with the sector’s ongoing demand”. DL says under its leadership, ASLI can be repositioned as a pan-European logistics and data-centre platform and its asset base rebuilt “to over €1.5bn within 24 months” using its proprietary pipeline. If appointed, it would also offer shareholders regular exits or controlled “liquidity windows”. The general meeting to vote on DL’s resolutions will take place on 20 February.
Life Science REIT (LABS) has seen a flurry of new positions and changes in holdings following last week’s recommended £150m bid by British Land (BLND). Trium Capital has disclosed a 3.3% stake, Glazer Capital 7%, UBS 5.1% and JP Morgan 7.2% while Legal & General trimmed its holding to just below 3% and Rathbone Investment Management has cut its position to 3% from 10.6%.
Gresham House Income & Growth VCT (GHV1) and Gresham House Income & Growth 2 VCT (GHV2) have published prospectuses for their plan to raise up to £65m, with capacity to raise a further £30m, in the current tax year.
