Baron Rothschild once advocated investing when there was ‘blood on the streets’. It may be a gruesome metaphor, but there is wisdom in buying investments when they appear a little scary. It suggests the risks are well understood, and the price may be appealing. This Halloween, we look at three investment trusts that may seem […]
Golden Prospect Precious Metals (GPM) has reminded shareholders of their annual right to buy one new share for every five they own with next month’s subscription offer looking attractive after the share price soared 127% this year on the back of the gold rally. The company’s policy is to allow shareholders to buy the new […]
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) says Kansai Electric Power Company of Japan is buying an 80% stake in the offshore wind development arm of portfolio company Simply Blue Holdings. The transaction is in line with the latest holding value of Simply Blue, which ORIT wrote down by 25% in August. Proceeds will be used in […]
Home REIT (HOME), the suspended former homeless accommodation provider, says “due diligence is progressing” on the non-binding offers it received for the portfolio in February and anticipates the sale process will conclude by the end of the year although it cautions that timing and outcome are uncertain. Meanwhile fund manager AEW continues to prepare properties […]
Bellevue Healthcare (BBH) is seeking shareholder approval to replace its fund manager Bellevue Asset Management with Columbia Threadneedle, rename itself CT Healthcare Trust and drop the zero discount policy that has contributed to the investment trust’s decline in the past three years. Concluding a three-month strategic review prompted by the trust’s poor performance and shrinking […]
Murray Income (MUT), the £916m UK equity income trust managed by Aberdeen’s Charles Luke, says it is in the final stages of its strategic review having met a short list of companies offering to merge with or run its portfolio. It will announce its decision by the end of the year but not in time […]
Christopher Samuel, chair of Scottish Mortgage Trust (SMT), will take charge of Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) next March. The former chief executive of Ignis Asset Management will join the £954m listed private equity fund as a non-executive director on 17 November and become its chair after a four-month transition when interim chair Steve Pearce steps […]
Primary Health Properties (PHP) has gained the Competition and Markets Authority’s approval for its acquisition of Assura (AGR), with the regulator concluding the creation of a £6bn healthcare real estate investment trust raised no competition concerns. PHP said it would turn its full attention to integrating the two businesses and realising the full benefits of […]
Aberdeen Group (ABDN) is to acquire full ownership of logistics specialist Tritax Management over the next four years, lifting its current 60% stake to 80% next April and then 100% in 2029. The fund management group bought its initial majority holding in Tritax in 2020 with an option to increase the position in future. It […]
Saba Capital has re-established a 5% position in Montanaro UK Smaller Companies (MTU) seven months after the £125m investment trust bought out the activist hedge fund’s then 12% holding with a purchase of 19.9m shares. Yesterday Saba disclosed it held over 6.3 voting rights in the listed fund managed by Charles Montanaro. This comes as […]
Scottish Mortgage (SMT) has invested £91m in Anthropic, the US artificial intelligence start-up whose $183bn (£137bn) valuation recently worried its former fund manager James Anderson. Anderson, who left Baillie Gifford in 2022 after 40 years with SMT’s investment group, told the Financial Times earlier this month that the “scale of jump and the pace” with which Anthropic and its main rival OpenAI […]
LondonMetric (LMP), the acquisitive logistics real estate investment trust, has bought a 9.5% stake in Schroder Real Estate (SREI), raising speculation that its chief executive Andrew Jones may be lining up a new bid. LMP has grown its market value to £4.5bn and nearly doubled its total portfolio to £7bn with a string of acquisitions […]
Shares in Janus Henderson (JHG.N) have soared 17% in New York after the fund manager said it had received a $7.2bn (£5.3bn), or $46 a share, cash bid approach from activist hedge fund Trian and venture capital firm General Catalyst. Janus Henderson, the product of a merger eight years ago between Janus Capital of the […]
Shares in RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW), International Biotechnology (IBT) and Biotech Growth (BIOG) have jumped around 3% after Novartis of Switzerland became the latest drugs giant to ink a big deal, agreeing to pay $12bn for Avidity Bioscience. Over the weekend Avidity (RNA), a US, Nasdaq-listed rare muscles disease specialist, obtained a binding offer of […]
Schroders Capital Global Innovation (INOV), the former Woodford Patient Capital Trust in wind-down, has more than doubled its money on a US data security firm sold for $1.725bn (£1.3bn) last week. The sale of unlisted portfolio company Securiti AI, based in San Jose, California, to Veeam Software, another private company in Seattle, Washington, values the […]
UIL (UTL), the £199m flexible listed sister fund and founder of Utilico Emerging Markets (UEM), has proposed selling its £99.5m stake in Somers, its other investment platform, that represented 40.1% of its portfolio at 30 June. Some shares will be sold to General Provincial Life Pension Fund of Malaysia, which already owns 78.9% of Somers, […]
Interview with GQG and EdgePoint Brian Kersmanc and Geoff MacDonald explore the tension between slowing economic indicators and elevated market valuations. From the influence of AI optimism, to the risks posed by market concentration, they share where earnings growth may fall short—and where opportunities still exist for investors.
VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity (VOF), the second largest of the three London-listed Vietnam funds, hopes a rebound in the past three months will continue after posting disappointing annual results partly weighed down by the turmoil over US tariffs. The £616m US dollar-based investment company saw net asset value (NAV) fall 4% to $7.13 in the year […]
Last week, I wrote about a novel experience – for me at least – of joining a “speed dating” session, where analysts such as myself, and journalists, met six fund managers of investment trusts run by Schroders. In that article, I shared some of the insights I’d gained on Schroders’ suite of funds focused on […]
Aquila European Renewables (AERI), a £176m investment company two years into a difficult wind-down, has agreed to sell its Danish and Greek wind assets (Holmen II, Svindbaek and Desfina) to its fund manager Aquila Capital for €61.9m, a 17% discount to their valuation at 30 June. Together with the €16.5m sale of its minority investment in […]
Manchester and London (MNL), the £303m technology forced to suspend share buybacks last month in a bid to protect its investment trust status, has announced a dramatic hike in its dividends to shore up shareholder returns. Chair Dan Wright said the company would pay at least 40p in annual dividends for the next five years […]
Polar Capital Global Healthcare (PCGH) has effectively set a 40% limit on the forthcoming 100% exit it is offering shareholders as part of its eight-year reconstruction. Although shareholders in the top-performing £458m investment trust will be free to sell all their shares in the tender offer next month, the company has set a minimum of […]
Aberdeen Asia Focus (AAS), a £519m smaller companies investment trust, has marked its 30th anniversary with a small name change and a big rise in its annual return. Out goes the silly Abrdn moniker following its fund manager’s welcome rebranding and in comes news of a 20.3% underlying investment return that smashed the 7.6% return […]
HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) has reported robust half-year results with net asset value (NAV) per share rising 6.2% to a record $57.55 (£47.10) in the six months to 31 July. This was supported by portfolio valuation gains of 5.6%, with infrastructure (+11.4%) and European holdings (+13.4%) leading the way. Realisations, or sales, totalled $142m […]
An excited crowd of fund managers, directors, journalists and PR folk assembled at the Guardian Royal Exchange in the City of London last week for QuotedData’s second annual investment companies awards. Corks popped and champagne flowed as the winners of our 14 awards were announced. Everyone likes to be told they’re the best. What […]
Barings Emerging EMEA Opportunities (BEMO) has passed the continuation vote it called this month when back tracking on a commitment to hold a 25% tender offer. However, the £94m emerging markets investment trust will have to make peace with one of its largest shareholders after just over 33% of shares in yesterday’s general meeting in […]
Macau Property Opportunities (MPO), the £34m real estate fund trying to complete a lengthy wind-up in the China region’s prolonged slowdown, is considering an emergency share issue to resolve a cash flow crisis. The company, which in August reported a 23.5% slump in net asset value in the three months to 30 June, said the […]
Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) has delivered on its commitment to overhaul its board a month after a row over the disclosure of £10.6m additional fees to its fund manager. The battery fund has appointed two experienced investment company directors, Norman Crighton and Angus Gordon Lennox, and said its current chair and senior independent director […]
Middlefield Canadian Income (MCT) will start its new life as an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) with just over £75m, it was confirmed today. The £150m investment trust said 52.7% of its shares would roll over into the ETF that will start trading on Thursday with the remainder receiving cash as they exit. Middlefield was […]
John Scott, the outgoing chair of Bluefield Solar Income (BSIF), has warned shareholders in the renewables fund that the “business as usual” option is unavailable as he held out the prospect of the double-digit yielder merging with its fund manager Bluefield Partners and cutting its payout. Delivering his last annual report, Scott said the £493m […]
