SEGRO (SGRO) has reiterated its rejection of last month’s all-share bid approach from Prologis of the US after posting a “significant” first half rise in new rent to £53m from £31m a year ago. Having achieved a 44% uplift on rent reviews, renewals and regears in the UK in the six months to 30 June, chief executive David Sleath said: “SEGRO has had a very encouraging start to the year, with strong occupier momentum through the first two quarters of 2026.” The warehouse developer also announced a second joint venture with Pure Data Centres Group to build a new data centre in Paris which it hopes to pre-let to a global hyper scaler. It said the offer of 0.084 new Prologis shares for every SGRO share, which initially implied a value of 925p per share for SEGRO, was “opportunistic, one-sided and inadequate” for a “unique business with an irreplaceable portfolio”. SGRO shares closed at 865p yesterday, valuing it at £11.7bn. It stood at 742p before the $131bn US industrial real estate investment trust made its offer public on 24 June.
LondonMetric Property (LMP), the £4.4bn logistics fund engaged in a joint bid for Picton Property (PCTN) with Schroder Real Estate (SREI), has reported a good start to its financial year saying it has undertaken £139m of transactions and added £6.7m of annual rental income from 72 asset management initiatives. In an update for today’s annual general meeting, LMP said the April-June period saw 26 properties sold for £96.7m with a further £23m under offer. It bought five assets for £42.5m, with an additional £48m in solicitors’ hands awaiting completion, to boost its food store and drive-thru portfolios. Due diligence for the all-share bid for PCTN with SREI was “advancing well”, it said.
Polar Capital Holdings (POLR), manager of the Polar Capital Technology (PCT), Global Healthcare (PGCH) and Global Financials (PCFT) investment trusts, saw assets under management soar 47% in the first quarter of its financial year. From £30.6bn at 31 March, AUM rose to a record £45bn on net inflows of £2.5bn and fund performance and market movements of £11.9bn led primarily by growth in its open-ended technology and AI funds. The shares fell over 6% to 861p after going ex-dividend for the second interim dividend of 32p that will be paid on 7 August.
Saba Capital has lifted its stake in SDCL Efficiency Income (SEIT) from 24% to 25% ahead of tomorrow’s annual general meeting (AGM) vote on the company’s proposed wind-down and move to a realisation strategy. The US activist hedge fund has also increased its position in BlackRock Smaller Companies (BRSC) from 12% to 14.7% even though it is subject to a standstill agreement until next year’s AGM.
Shareholders in Living REIT (LIVE), formerly Social Housing REIT, and Residential Secure Income (RESI) yesterday approved the sale of RESI’s retirement portfolio to LIVE. The resolutions received the support of over 90% of the votes at both funds’ general meetings on turnout of 46.5% for LIVE and 58.6% for RESI.
Taylor Maritime (TMI), the former shipping fund, is to make its third return of capital this year through a partial compulsory redemption of shares. It will return $45m by buying 37% of its dollar shares at 85.8 cents. It announced the return of $143.4m in January and $30m in March after liquidating most of its fleet last year.
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