Tritax Big Box REIT (BBOX) has achieved planning consent on its Manor Farm data centre development near Heathrow after a six-week judicial review brought by Slough Borough Council failed to overturn the approval granted by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government last month. Chief executive Colin Godfrey said a pre-let agreement for the 107MW scheme was now in solicitors’ hands.
QuotedData senior analyst Matthew Read said: “This is a positive development for BBOX, removing a key planning risk and allowing it to move forward with a sizeable data centre scheme in one of Europe’s most supply-constrained markets. The targeted 9.3% yield on cost underlines why the expansion into data centres makes sense: it offers the potential for materially higher returns than conventional logistics development, while building on BBOX’s existing strengths in land, planning, infrastructure and large-scale development. Securing an accelerated route to power and progressing a pre-let should further reduce execution risk and support meaningful value creation for shareholders.”
Harwood Capital chief executive Chris Mills has threatened to vote against the £545m bid for Pinewood Technologies tabled by Ridgeview Partners on Friday, complaining the preferential liquidation rights set by the US private equity firm are unfair. Under the terms of the 448p-per-share offer, which has been recommended by the board of the car dealership software provider, Ridgeview would stand ahead of other shareholders who rolled over their stakes. Mills, whose firm owns 5.7% of Pinewood, formerly known as Pendragon, told the Times: “Let’s say it all goes wrong and Pinewood is later sold for £300m, our clients would be junior to [Ridgeview] and could lose all their money, while Ridgeview wouldn’t lose a penny. That would be an absolutely new precedent in the London stock market.”
Railpen, the £34bn railways pension scheme, has pulled out of bid talks with IP Group (IPO), the early-stage investor in university spin-off companies. Railpen said it had engaged in discussions with IPO’s board for several months but had been unable to reach agreement on terms. Railpen has invested in IPO since 2019 and holds an 18.4% stake in the £586m company. Last month it made an offer of 69.7p per share, including 59p cash, with an additional 5p per share if one of IPO’s holdings was sold in the next 12 months. It subsequently improved the offer to 61p per share cash, 10.6p per share from its stake in Oxford Nanopore (ONT) and 11.3p per share of further contingent value. IPO said it “appreciates the engagement and effort from Railpen and its partners and is disappointed that a mutually acceptable outcome could not be reached.”
Invesco Asia Dragon (IAD) is getting a third fund manager. Marc Ye, a member of Invesco’s Asia and Emerging Markets Equities team for five years, will start work with lead manager Ian Hargreaves and senior co-manager Fiona Yang from 1 August. Chair Neil Rogan said the appointment was “all about strengthening and deepening the team for the compelling opportunities that the board sees ahead. Marc has been a longstanding member of the Invesco team, with deep experience across Asian equities and a thorough understanding of the investment philosophy and process that underpin the strategy.” Last week the £942m investment trust, a product of last year’s merger between Invesco Asia and Asia Dragon, reported a 39.6% investment return for the year to 31 April with shareholders receiving 44.7% as the share price discount narrowed, although both were below the 45.7% of the MSCI AC Asia ex-Japan index.
Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF) shareholders approved the £548m cash bid made by Drax Group for the Guernsey investment company last month at the court meeting and general meeting on Friday.
The new Saba-backed board of Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) has appointed Singer Capital Markets as its sole corporate broker and financial adviser, replacing Deutsche Numis.
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