The Financial Conduct Authority has launched legal action against Neil Woodford and the former fund manager’s subscription-based platform W4.0. The FCA alleges that Woodford and W4.0, the trading name of W Four Point Zero FZE LLC registered in the United Arab Emirates, are providing unauthorised regulated investment advice and financial promotions. The City regulator believes this breaches sections 19 and 21 […]
US Solar Fund (USF) took a surprise lead last month, emerging as the investment companies sector’s top riser in May after revealing talks to sell its portfolio to an unidentified buyer. News of the potential sale at a “significant premium” saw shares in the £113m investment trust managed by Amber Infrastructure soar 33% (see table). […]
Seraphim Space (SSIT) will join the FTSE 250 on 19 June after a 39% share price rise this year and last month’s £127m C-share issue lifted the market value of the world’s first listed SpaceTech fund to £698m at Friday’s close. Chair Will Whitehorn said elevation to the “mid-cap” index was a “significant milestone” and […]
Baillie Gifford investment trusts have raised their valuation of SpaceX for a third time in six months with its flagship Scottish Mortgage (SMT) now holding a highly concentrated 21% position in the Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence (AI) group seeking a record $1.78tn (£1.3trn) flotation next week. Scottish Mortgage Trust and stablemates Schiehallion […]
Capital Gearing Trust (CGT), the £810m wealth preservation fund and investment company activist, is turning its attention to its largest equity holding, North Atlantic Smaller Companies (NAS), after a prolonged period of poor performance. CGT, whose lead manager Peter Spiller has been a long-term holder of NAS and supporter of its fund manager and chief […]
JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income (JAGI) outperformed in the six months to 31 March with a 7.1% investment return beating the 5.2% advance in the MSCI Asia ex Japan index. Shareholders in the 4.6%-yielder did even better with a 12% return as the shares’ discount to net asset value narrowed from 8.7% to 4.8%. The […]
The new Saba-backed board of Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) has confirmed its intention to offer shareholders an exit through a tender offer once SpaceX has floated this month, but its statement to the stock exchange has failed to dispel concerns over its lack of independence from the activist hedge fund widely thought to want to replace […]
Private equity fund manager Hg has committed to increasing its stake in HgCapital Trust (HGT) from 6% to 15% in the “medium term” after the £1.8bn investment trust, which invests in its funds, tumbled to a 25% discount after this year’s AI scare for software stocks. In a statement before a capital markets event in […]
Zurich-listed Partners Group plunged 16% after reports that it had capped investor withdrawals from its flagship $8.6bn Global Value open-ended private equity fund. Shares in US private equity groups such as KKR and Blackstone also fell as the move stoked fears over private market valuations. Partners Group Private Equity (PEY), the £623m London-listed investment company […]
Templeton Emerging Markets (TEM) has congratulated fund managers Chetan Sehgal and Andrew Ness after the Franklin Templeton pair delivered a 41.3% total investment return for the year to 31 March. The “unusually strong” underlying performance saw the Asia-weighted portfolio recover from the shock of US President Trump’s tariffs in April last year to beat the […]
