Saba Capital turns its attention to Henderson Smaller Companies (HSL) with the activist doubling its stake to 10.2%. Its trade on Monday saw the hedge fund buy shares as well as swaps to increase its position in the £538m investment trust standing on an 8% discount. That was two days before yesterday’s half-year results.
HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE), the £2.3bn fund of funds under pressure from shareholder AVI over its 26% discount and level of shareholder distributions, said it had positive cashflow of $46m last year after receiving $424m in distributions and investing $378m in HarbourVest funds, equivalent to 11% and 10% of opening net asset value (NAV). It said these figures contrasted with 2024 when cashflow was negative and HVPE received $379m in distributions and invested $422m, equivalent to 10% and 11% of opening NAV in that year.
Chair Ed Warner said: “2025 was a year in which HVPE’s decisive actions delivered for our shareholders, through strong performance and by laying the foundations for future growth. The board remains resolutely focused on maximising value, as demonstrated by our enhanced buyback programme, the successful transition to a more flexible SMA structure, and our ongoing commitment to robust governance through the upcoming continuation vote.”
Invesco Bond Income Plus (BIPS), the £420m, 7%-yielding loan and bond fund, launches the share issue it flagged this month. Investors can buy new shares at a 0.75% premium over net asset value until 12 February. There’s a WRAP retail offer alongside institutional placing by broker Winterflood.
Bluefield Solar Income (BSIF) confirms that the UK government’s announcement yesterday of a switch to CPI indexation in ROC and FIT incentive payments will reduce net asset value (NAV) by around 2% or 2p per share.
Picton Property Income (PCTN), the UK REIT that put itself up for sale this month, delivered its sixth consecutive quarter of growth with NAV/EPRA net tangible assets per share up 0.9% to 102.4p at 31 December. The quarterly dividend is held at 0.95p per share.
Pantheon International (PIN), the private equity fund urged by activist investor Metage to return more capital to shareholders, saw the value of its funds and unquoted shares portfolio fall 2% last month with net asset value per share down 10.2p at 510.6p on 31 December to put the investment trust on a 26% discount. Cuts to valuations accounted for 4.7p per share of the decline and currency movements and expenses knocked a further 7.3p off NAV with income and buybacks adding 1.8p.
