Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD) says its underperforming New York data centre, Hudson Interxchange, is “closer to breakeven” after signing a major new customer contract and receiving an expansion order from an existing customer. CORD bought 60 Hudson Street for £56m in January 2022 saying it was the “most interconnected facility in one of the most interconnected cities on the planet”. However, the valuation fell £11.6m in the year to 31 March to £36.7m from rising discount and interest rates despite CORD injecting £12.6m of more capital to fund the construction of two new data halls. It accounts for 2.7% of the portfolio. Winterflood analyst Ashley Thomas said: “Although Hudson has material scope to grow and its data hall expansion investments should achieve high rates of return, given its geographical location and its relatively small scale in the CORD portfolio we would not be surprised to see the business sold in the future if a materially higher valuation could be achieved.” The £930m investment company joined the FTSE 250 last month after delivering a second 12-month period of strong returns with a 16.3% underlying return according to its annual results.
Former Laxey Partners activist Andrew Pegge has joined the boardroom exodus at CEIBA Investments (CBA) following its placing on a US sanctions list and the suspension of its shares last week. Pegge, a shareholder in the £48m Cuban property fund, joined its board as a non-executive three years ago but yesterday resigned with immediate effect in response to CBA’s designation as a “blocked person” under an executive order (EO) signed by President Trump in May. Pegge holds 8.4% of CBA through Pop Investments, his Isle of Man investment company. His departure means four of the investment company’s seven directors have left, leaving chair John Herring and non-execs Dena Bellamy and Crispin Latymer.
Mining fund Grit Investment Trust (GRIT) is making a second attempt to return from a suspension of over two years, disclosing it is in talks for a reverse takeover of Planet Scan AG, a Swiss headquartered unlisted private company developing a copper mine in Turkey. An eight-week exclusivity period between GRIT and Planet Scan has been agreed. GRIT announced earlier this month the termination of takeover talks with Nabirm Global, a privately held, oil and gas exploration company in Namibia.
Pantheon International (PIN) says positive currency movements and £63.9m of share buybacks helped the £2.1bn private equity portfolio generate a 1.5% rise last month. Net asset value (NAV) per share gained 7.8p to 525.7p at 30 June to put the shares at 391p today on a discount of 25.6% that has come in from a one-year average of 28.9% and gives the investment trust a market value of £1.5bn. The distribution pool for further share buybacks and returns of capital stood at £140.5m at the end of the month, boosted by £180m from the sale of a funds portfolio in May. PIN made £33.3m in three new investment commitments comprising of £14.9m for Norvestor X, a new Nordic lower mid-market buyout fund focused on business services, tech-enabled services, industrial solutions and consumer services; £9.9m for the new Allegro Fund V pursuing a turnaround and special situations strategy in Australia; and an £8.5m co-investment in Eide Bailly, a US accounting and advisory firm serving medium-sized companies alongside Reverence Capital Partners.
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