News

Edinburgh Dragon picks some winners in China while Korea and India lag – Edinburgh Dragon Trust (EFM) has reported half-year results this morning, covering the period to Ferbruary 28, 2019.  Total return NAV was down 1.1% and the share price up 1.2% in the comparison period to August 31, 2018. Moutai a highlight EFM’s chairman, […]

HgCapital to invest in B2B platform Litera Microsystems – The private equity trust, HgCapital (HGT), has this morning announced that it is investing in Chicago-based Litera Microsystems (Litera), a provider of end-to-end document lifecycle solutions to the legal and life sciences industries worldwide. HGT will invest approximately £32.1m in Litera (terms have not been disclosed […]

Syncona’s Blue Earth gets good results in prostate cancer diagnosis –  Syncona has a large stake in Blue Earth Diagnostics. Blue Earth has been testing its prostate cancer diagnosis at a university hospital in Germany. The test (a radiohybrid PSMA-targeted agent, rhPSMA-7) for high-risk primary and recurrent prostate cancer was bought by Blue Earth in […]

Starwood European looks to raise £40m – Starwood European Real Estate Finance (SWEF) has announced a new ordinary share placing with a target raise of £40m at a price of 104.8 pence per placing share. SWEF’s shares have closed most of the discount to NAV that came about in late 2018 on the back of […]

Templeton Emerging offers performance triggered tender – Templeton Emerging Markets’s board has been consulting shareholders in advance of its continuation vote (scheduled for the AGM in July 2019). In response to the shareholder feedback received, the board has decided that, subject to the passing of the continuation resolution, it will introduce a five-year performance-related conditional tender […]

Downing Strategic Micro says underlying discount growing – the NAV per share dropped by almost 20% over the year to the end of February 2019. The shares moved from trading at a small premium to a small discount. There will be a dividend of 1.25p, payable from earnings of 1.5p. There are 13 companies in […]

BlackRock Smallers extends outperformance record – BlackRock Smaller Companies reports that its NAV return for the year to the end of February 2019 was -4.8%. However, the share price rose a little over the period, giving shareholders a return of 2.4%, and the dividend was increased by 20% to 31.2p. The benchmark (Numis Smaller Companies plus […]

GCP Student Living (DIGS) has announced that it has entered into a conditional forward purchase agreement to acquire a high specification, purpose-built, private student accommodation residence in the same locality as its Scape Surrey asset in Guildford. The property is expected to be completed for the 2020/21 academic year providing 403 beds. Ideally located for […]

Greencoat UK Wind has announced a new programme of share issuance that is to be conducted over the next 12 months through a number of tranches. The initial placing and the initial offer for subscription launchi today (Thursday 2 March 2019). The company says that a prospectus, relating to the Share Issuance Programme, is expected […]

Impact Healthcare REIT has announced that it has acquired four care homes from subsidiaries of the Maria Mallaband and Countrywide Group (MMCG) in a sale and leaseback transaction. MMCG will continue to operate the homes after completion. The net purchase price is £21.0 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.4%. Impact Healthcare REIT says […]

Shaftesbury has announced that its board has received “a letter before action and a draft particulars of claim” from companies controlled by Mr Samuel Tak Lee. Shaftesbury says that these concerns allegations and claims relating to the placing conducted by Shaftesbury in December 2017. Mr Lee, a Hong Kong billionaire property magnate, currently has an interest […]

Highcroft Investments has announced that has completed on the purchase of the freehold interest of a gym and retail warehouse investment in Ipswich for £4,650,000, representing a net yield of 7.04%. The seller was Huron Properties Limited and the purchase has been funded from the company’s existing debt facilities. Dave Whelan Sports and Orwell Motorcycles […]

Africa Opportunity to offer switch to realisation pool – “In accordance with the prospectus dated 28 March 2014 a continuation vote will be put to shareholders this year, which will take place at a general meeting at the time of the company’s AGM, which is currently expected to take place in June 2019. The continuation […]

Ceiba’s first results show Trump impact – Ceiba Investments has published its first set of results since listing in the UK. Aberdeen Standard Investments paid the company $5m to buy the management contract. How this deal is treated in the accounts distorts the figures – either it is recognised straightaway or the accountants spread the […]

Oakley invests in Spanish online insurance firm – Oakley Capital Investments says its Fund III has agreed to form a joint venture with Admiral Group and Mapfre S.A. to combine Rastreator Comparador Correduría de Seguros S.L. (“Rastreator”) with Asesor Seguros Online S.L. and Asesor Consumer Services S.L. (together “Acierto.com”), two of Spain’s digital brokers for insurance […]

Sareum (SAR), together with its US-based licensee Sierra Oncology, should be a major beneficiary in competitive terms from an apparent decision by Lilly to discontinue development its Chk1 inhibitor, prexasertib. Sierra has the only other compound with this mechanism in clincial trials and, as a result, its Chk1 inihitibitor, SRA737 – which originated at Sareum […]

Hedge fund trust Third Point Offshore Investors has solid start to 2019 – Third Point Offshore Investors (TPOU) announced in December 2018 that it would migrate its entire portfolio into a newly-created share class of the underlying Master Fund managed by Dan Loeb and his team (you can read more about this story here). TPOU […]

Carador Income Fund discusses wind-down timeline – Carador Income Fund (CIFU) has reported a 10.52% decline  in its NAV total return over the year to December 31, 2018, on the back of the wider sell-off in global markets in Q418. We note that the decline in the NAV compared with growth of 9.53% in 2017, […]

Honeycomb Investment Trust taking advantage as banks retreat from speciality space – Honeycomb Investment Trust (HONY) has released its financials covering the year to December 31, 2018. The company had a good year with its asset secured lending model in the speciality space demonstrating the ability to withstand the many economic, political and market challenges […]

Middlefield Canadian Income sees room for optimism – Middlefield Canadian Income (MCT) outperformed its benchmark by 0.4% in the financial year to December 31, 2018. The fund, which also invests in the US to take advantage of certain opportunities that may not be readily available in Canada, focuses on high-yielding sectors such as real estate […]

Civitas amends fee structure – Civitas Social Housing’s board and investment adviser have agreed to change the way that the adviser’s fees are calculated so that they are based on IFRS NAV instead of Portfolio NAV. The difference between the two NAVs is explained in our note Socially beneficial investing (see page 10). As the IFRS […]

Riverstone launches European power company – Riverstone Holdings LLC, manager of Riverstone Energy Limited, has announced the formation of Onyx Strategic Investment Management I BV, a newly formed European independent power producer. Onyx will have an initial focus on Germany and the Netherlands, following the signing of an agreement to acquire a fleet of coal- and […]

Globalworth buys two Polish office buildings – Globalworth is making two investments in Poland, for a combined transaction value of EUR113.2 million. Retro Office House, a newly completed office development located in central Wroclaw benefitting from excellent connectivity to all parts of the city and a range of public transport options, is to be acquired for […]