Aquila European Renewables slides 12% as preferred bidder cuts the value of its bid and board pauses sales process, and CVC Income and Growth changes the master fund it feeds into.
Aquila European Renewables (AERI) shares slide 12% to 54 euro cents as its board “pauses” the sale of the company after its preferred bidder submitted a lower-than-expected bid that reduced the number of assets it would buy. The bidder is no longer in exclusivity but dialogue is onging. The board “will provide an update to shareholders on the sales process once the implications and alternatives have been properly explored”. The news comes in a year in which the valuations of wind and solar funds have been under pressure from falling power price forecasts. AERI has effectively been up for sale since December 2023 when over 20% of shareholders voted against the company’s continuation. It subsequently received a bid approach from Octopus Infrastructure (ORIT) that did not progress.
CVC Income and Growth (CVCG) says its fund manager CVC Credit Partners is switching investors in its CVC European Credit Opportunities master fund, in which CVCG solely invests, into a new fund which will be a ‘Reserved Alternative Investment Fund’ (RAIF). RAIFs are EU-regulated under the AIFMD directive and CVC says this will be more attractive to EU-based investors, widening the potential investor base. Shareholders do not need to take any action.
Hansa Investment Company (HAN/HANA) and Ocean Wilsons Holdings (OWHL) have agreed terms of the recommended all-share combination they announced in June. Each OWHL sharehlder will receive 1.4925 Hansa HAN shares and two non-voting HANA ‘A’-shares giving OWHL shareholders 41.4% and existing Hansa shareholders 58.6% of the enlarged £900m global investment company whose approach to its funds and shares portfolio will be unchanged.
CT Global Managed Portfolio, which is split between growth (CPMG) and income (CMPI) portfolios, says Peter Hewitt, its fund manager since launch in April 2008, has retired with Adam Norris and Paul Green of Columbia Threadneedle now in charge. Annual results to 31 May show the £91m investment trust, which invests in other investment companies, achieved underlying returns of 2.5% for growth investors and 4.2% for income investors, both underperforming the 9.4% of the FTSE All-Share index. While the new managers say there is no change to the trust’s objectives, over the next 12 months they will review “the best ideas available in the investment company universe” and make use of quantitative systems to assist in portfolio diversification and construction. This is expected to lead to higher portfolio concentration and increased allocation to alternative asset classes, such as listed private equity, which they describe as “ripe with value”.
Diverse Income (DIVI), the £253m UK equity income trust run by Premier Miton’s Gervais Williams and Martin Turner, says US fund manager Brookdale International Partners has almost doubled its holding to 10.1% from 5.5%. This comes ahead of the annual redemption facility next month that enables investors to sell at close to net asset value. The shares are currently 3.6% below NAV.
