Tritax Big Box declares its cash and shares offer for Warehouse REIT final, which means victory for Blackstone’s improved and recommended 115p per share cash offer. Middlefield Canadian Income finalises plans for its conversion to an exchange-traded fund and suspended Home Reit renegotiates the contract with its wind-down fund manager AEW.

Tritax Big Box (BBOX) says it will not raise its cash and share offer made on 25 June for Warehouse REIT (WHR), declaring the offer is now final. That mean next week’s auction by the Takeover Panel will not go ahead and Blackstone has won the day with its improved £489m cash offer of 113.4p per share, or 115p including the fourth quarter dividend, that was recommended by the Warehouse board. It has received 13.8% acceptances from Warehouse shareholders so far.

Middlefield Canadian Income (MCT) has repaid its loans from Royal Bank of Canada ahead of issuing formal proposals to voluntarily wind up the company and convert into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based in Dublin but listed in London and run by the same manager, Middlefield Limited, following the same investment approach as the investment trust. White label provider HanETF, which is helping Middlefield, has received the approval of the Central Bank of Ireland for the launch. Shareholders who do not want to roll over into the ETF will be able to redeem all their money at net asset value. The cash exit and conversion to an open-ended fund were part of a settlement announced in May with activist hedge fund Saba Capital which held 29% of the shares at the time.

Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA) – speaking of Saba, the US activist’s stake in Baillie Gifford’s £735m investment trust exceeded 30% on Wednesday, up from 29.3% previously, meaning it could in theory be required to make a bid for the company if it bought one more share. This is similar to the situation we reported in relation to Herald (HRI) investment trust in July.

Home REIT (HOME), the suspended property fund in wind-down, has renegotiated the contract with fund manager AEW ahead of the expiry of its initial two-year term. In light of the company’s reduced size from disposals made by AEW, it will pay the manager £167,000 a month until three months after its portfolio has fallen to fewer than 10 properties. For the following quarter it will pay £120,000 per month and thereafter £42,000 a month until termination of the contract which can be terminated on six months’ notice. In addition AEW will receive 10% of rents and rent arrears collected up to an annual cap of £1m. Home says its unrestricted cash pile and rental income are expected to be sufficient to fund operational expenses and fees during the managed wind-down.

James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, said: “£167k per month is about £2m a year, so – with a £1m slice of rents from the portfolio – AEW still gets the £3m minimum fees it got last year. That all changes if the sale of all or most of the portfolio that has been talked about for a while goes ahead. All of this is overshadowed by the ongoing litigation, however. It would be good to see more progress on this front.”

James is a shareholder in HOME and has previously declared that he joined the shareholder action.

Henderson European Trust (HET) and Fidelity European (FEV) have both published circulars detailing the proposed merger of the former into the latter. HET is recommending its shareholders vote for all the resolutions to approve the transaction at general meetings on 9 and 26 September. FEV shareholders will vote on 15 September.

NB Distressed Debt (NBDD) says in its interim results that it is in the final stage of its wind-down and will issue proposals for a voluntary liquidation by the end of the year.

Custodian Real Estate Income (CREI) made a big buyback of shares yesterday, spending just over £1m on 1.3m shares at 77.7p. The £364m real estate investment trust stands on a 21% discount and launched its buyback programme last month.

Utilico Emerging Markets (UEM) disclosed that wealth manager Rathbones now has a 4.97% stake in the company, behind Saba Capital which disclosed a 5.7% position in May.

Premier Milton Global Renewables (PMGR) extended its post-April “Liberation Day” rally last month with the £20m split capital investment trust advancing net asset value (NAV) by 4.4% and with its shares 9.7% racing higher. The portfolio’s US holdings performed relatively well in July on greater clarity regarding the phase-out of US renewable tax credits. AES Corporation, which operates one of the fastest growing US renewable energy platforms, saw its share price increase by 25.1%, the company said in its latest factsheet. The 7%-yielding ordinary shares have settled back a bit in the past two weeks and stand on an 8.4% discount to NAV.