The UK economy delivered a surprisingly solid performance in the first quarter with 0.3% growth in March lifting gross domestic product by 0.6% in the first three months of the year, led by a rebound in retailing and construction. The Office for National Statistics said there were signs that consumers and businesses had brought forward spending in March ahead of inflation rises coming from the US-led war on Iran that has blocked shipments of a fifth of the world’s oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at Aberdeen Investments, said the risk of a recession was “elevated”, adding “it is hard to see this mattering very much to markets given how much things have moved on since then in both international and domestic politics. Higher energy prices will weigh on growth, stunting any recovery that might otherwise have been occurring. And ongoing political uncertainty is likely to weigh on investment given the possibility of a significant change in fiscal policy.”
Uzbekistan’s National Investment Fund (UzNIF) has raised $604m (£447m) with its global depository receipts (GDRs) starting conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange today. The initial public offer (IPO) was four times oversubscribed, UzNIF said. It is the first Uzbek state-backed entity to tap global capital markets.
QuotedData’s James Carthew said: “Raising $600m is a decent result for UzNIF, and it is good to see that it went to a premium on the IPO price on its first day of trading. The market cap at $26 is just over $2bn and this compares to an end December 2025 NAV of $2.44bn (a 16.9% discount). It is worth bearing in mind that single country funds can make for volatile investments. For example, Georgia Capital’s shares have been a great investment (share price up 4x) over the past couple of years but have also experienced precipitous falls in their history. It was a similar story for Fondul Proprietatea, a Romanian fund that bears a lot of similarity with UzNIF and delisted from the LSE last year after selling its prize asset – a stake in Hidroelectrica – in July 2023.”
Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) says activist hedge fund Saba Capital made a mistake in its requisition for a meeting to remove the investment trust’s board on 24 April after it was discovered that its nominee did not own sufficient shares. Saba, which emerged from the recent exit tender offer with a 29.9% stake, had resubmitted a valid requisition and the meeting will now be held on 17 June, the same day as IEM’s annual general meeting.
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