Linus Uhlig, Investment Week, 26 February 2025:
Christopher Mills and Robert Naylor, the City veterans best known for orchestrating the sale of Hipgnosis Songs to Blackstone last year, have launched Achilles investment company (AIC), a closed-ended strategy looking to take advantage of the discounts within the investment trust sector.
Achilles will run a concentrated portfolio strategy, with a focus on alternative assets and investing in closed-ended London Stock Exchange-listed companies, according to the law firm that advised on Tuesday’s (25 February) IPO, Carey Olsen.
Gibraltar-based Harwood Capital Management has been appointed as the investment manager and led by Mills and Naylor, who worked to secure an exit for investors at the Hipgnosis Songs fund that was sold to Blackstone last year.
The duo is also currently working on a strategic review for PRS REIT.
Joining them on the Achilles team will be Pershing Square Holdings board member Charlotte Denton, who has been appointed as non-executive chair of the Achilles board.
The fund has raised £54m so far and will focus on between two and five opportunities at any one time.
According to James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, “investors are frustrated” with the current level of discounts at investment trusts, even though the discounts come down to misleading cost disclosures and “unrelenting flows out of UK listed companies”, rather than being the fault of the trust itself.
“[Shareholders] have seen a successful exit at Hipgnosis and the prospect of another at PRS REIT and are hoping that the Achilles team can repeat that success elsewhere,” Carthew added.
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