Oakley Capital investing in cPanel – Oakley Capital Investments Limited will invest in cPanel via the Oakley Funds.  WebPros BV, the holding company that owns Plesk and Solus VM, and which Oakley Capital Private Equity III first invested in in April 2017 (when WebPros bought Plesk), is acquiring a majority stake in cPanel from its founder J. Nick […]

BB-backed Ionis approaches key regulatory events Ionis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IONS), a key shareholding for BB Biotech (10.9% of NAV) and several other specialist investment vehicles, is approaching a number of important regulatory events. In particular, these include the outcome of the FDA review for Waylivra, which has a deadline at the end of this month. Waylivra has been developed […]

Hg Capital sells Kinapse – HgCapital Trust has announced the sale of Kinapse to Syneos Health, a leading biopharmaceutical solutions organisation. Kinapse is a market leading advisory and operational solutions provider to the global life sciences industry. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. This transaction values the company’s investment in Kinapse at approximately GBP7.9 million. […]

Augmentum makes three new investments – Augmentum Fintech has announced an aggregate of GBP 7 million of investment in three leading European fintech companies – Tide, Previse and DueDil. GBP3 million in Tide, an emerging leader in SME challenger banking, as part of an GBP8 million funding round alongside existing investors GBP2 million investment in Previse, the global […]

Regional REIT adds eight offices to its portfolio Regional REIT (RGL) has announced that it has exchanged and completed on contracts to purchase eight assets for £31.4 million. (Update 24/08/2018) the acquisition was completed on 23rd August 2018. Regional diversification The portfolio is spread out from the Stockton-on-Tees in the North to High Wycombe in the South. […]

BlackRock Emerging Europe’s liquidation plans announced – on 14th June, the Board of BlackRock Emerging Europe (BEEP) announced that its tender offer had not secured enough money to make continuing running the company viable. Click here to read more on our coverage of that decision. The Board of BEEP have looked at the options and have come up with […]

HBM-backed Argenx has biotech industry’s most valuable unpartnered R&D asset Dutch/Belgian antibody company Argenx (Euronext & Nasdaq:ARGX), a top ten holding for Swiss-listed HBM Healthcare (HBMN, 2.9% of NAV), has the biotech industry’s most valuable unpartnered R&D asset in the form of its lead compound efgartigimod for myasthenia gravis and other autoimmune diseases, according to industry […]

WPCT avoids losses on Woodford-backed Abzena Woodford Investment Management will have to take a second painful hit on one of its major biotech investments in less than a week, after the UK-based drug discovery services company Abzena agreed to a low-ball private equity takeout today after seeing a sustained share price decline.  This deal follows the […]

IBT adds to Celgene, reduces Neurocrine in July rejig International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) appears to have boosted its shareholding in Celgene – which has risen by one place and ~ two NAV  percentage points to become its top investee company, as part of a rejig of its largest investments in July. According to the trust’s latest […]

Lazard World Trust Board responds to City of London letter – On 15th August, we reported that City of London Investment Management (CLIG), who run the investment trust City of London (CTY), has written a letter to the Directors of Lazard World Trust Fund (WTR) explaining its intention to oppose renewing the WTR’s buyback authority at the EGM to be held on […]

John Laing Environmental Assets acquires another anaerobic digestion plant – John Laing Environmental Assets (JLEN) has announced the acquisition of an anaerobic digestion (AD) asset, from Merlin Renewables Limited for a total consideration, including working capital, of c. £18.1 million. Location The Merlin AD plant is located in Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire and was commissioned in September 2014. The […]

Stafford Capital responds to Phaunos’ defence document – on 14th August 2018, the Chairman of Phaunos Timber (PTF) sent a letter to Phaunos Shareholders, giving them an update on plans to wind up the company and to reject the cash offer made on 3rd July by Stafford Capital Partners. Click here to see a copy of the letter In […]

City of London writes to shareholders of Lazard World Trust – City of London Investment Management (CLIG), who run the investment trust City of London (CTY), has written a letter to the Directors of Lazard World Trust Fund (WTR) explaining its intention to oppose renewing the WTR’s buyback authority at the EGM to be held on 30 August, 2018. CLIG comments that […]

WPCT set to record £33m gain on Sensyne Health IPO Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) looks set to record a £33m gain and a 45x return on its original shareholding in the UK healthcare AI firm Sensyne Health, as a result of the company’s IPO on the London stock exchange. Sensyne, which was founded and […]

Regional REIT completes sale of Wardpark, Cumbernauld – Regional REIT (RGL) has announced that it has exchanged and completed the sale of multi-let industrial estate Wardpark, Cumbernauld.  Uplift on disposal The sale price of £26.4m was 21.1% above the December 2017 year end valuation. Wardpark, Cumbernauld, which Regional REIT acquired in 2013, covers a total of 829,851 […]

Alnylam receives expected FDA ok for Onpattro Biotech trust stock favourite Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALNY) received its  first FDA approval late on Friday for Onpattro (patisiran) for the treatment of polyneuropathy in adults with hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis. However, the FDA did not allow a broader label that included patients with cardiomyopathy (CM), leading to […]

BG-backed Orchard raises $150m on the back of GSK deal Baillie Gifford-backed US-UK gene therapy company Orchard Therapeutics has raised $150m in a Series C financing  just four months after acquiring GlaxoSmithKline’s portfolio of investigational and approved rare disease gene therapies. The financing was led by Deerfield Management, a leading US healthcare investor, and included more than […]

Phaunos Timber rejects Stafford’s Offer – the Chairman of Phaunos Timber (PTF) has sent a letter to Phaunos Shareholders, giving them an update on plans to wind up the company and to reject the cash offer made on 3rd July by Stafford Capital Partners. This is the latest communication from the Board of Phaunos in a long running saga, where […]

FDA sets Feb target review date for IBT-backed Stemline Therapeutics The US FDA has accepted  Stemline Therapeutics (Nasdaq:STML)’s filing for Elzonris (tagraxofusp) for review for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), an extremely rare haematological cancer, and with priority review, the agency has set itself a PDUFA target action date of 21 February 2019 – although […]

Syncona remains at high premium and highly geared to Autolus Syncona (SYNC)‘s shares have been the second best performer this year among the 14 biotech investment trusts monitored by Marten & Co, rising by 24.5% in the first seven months to end July. However, the trust’s NAV has only gained 8.7% in the period and […]

Vietnam Opportunities extracts itself from chicken farm – VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund has reached an agreement with Ba Huan JSC, a Vietnamese poultry producer, to cease its investment, with all capital being returned to the fund. In February 2018, VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity announced that it had invested USD32.5 million to acquire a significant minority stake in Ba Huan. […]

JPMorgan Brazil struggles in a politically-driven market – During JPMorgan Brazil (JPB)’s financial year to 30th April 2018, Brazil’s equity market experienced a highly volatile period mainly driven by political concerns. Performance The company recorded more modest sterling returns this year as the Brazilian currency, the Real significantly weakened against Sterling by some 17%. The total return on net assets was […]

Pantheon International has had a “milestone year” – In his introductory comment to Pantheon International (PIN)‘s full report for the twelve months to 31st May 2018, chairman Sir Laurie Magnus noted that the company had celebrated its 30 year anniversary, simplified its capital structure and entered the FTSE 250 index, in what he saw as a milestone […]

NextEnergy Solar adds 282 rooftop solar assets to its portfolio – NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) has added a further 1.15MW of capacity through the acquisition of two portfolios of roof top solar assets in the UK. This is the company’s second rooftop portfolio acquisition. The company has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire the two portfolios for a total investment […]

Regional REIT successfully raises £50 million in bond issue – In July, we reported Regional REIT (RGL)‘s plans to to issue bonds – click here to read that story The company has announced that it has successful raised £50 million and that the bonds have been admitted to trading on London Stock Exchange today (7th August 2018) The […]

Investment Trust Insider on Syncona James Carthew: the problem with Syncona’s big premium Regular readers of this column will have realised that I often have as much of a problem with investment trusts trading on very high premiums as I do with trusts trading on very wide discounts. I explained a couple of weeks ago […]

Trust favourite Alnylam approaches key FDA decision Biotech trust stock favourite Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ALNY) should find out later this week whether the FDA will grant approval to its first product, Onpattro (patisiran), for hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (or hATTR). In this case, unusually, there is relatively little concern that Onpattro may not receive US approval and the […]

IBT backed Regeneron teams up with Bluebird on T cell cancer therapies US top tier biotech Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) is to make a $100m equity investment at a 59% premium in the gene therapy pioneer Bluebird Bio, as part of a  newly established collaboration to develop and commercialise novel immune cell therapies for cancer. Regeneron is […]

Arix leads first VIPE into Pharmaxis LSE-quoted life science investor Arix Bioscience (ARIX) is to acquire an 11% interest in Pharmaxis (ASX: PXS) in its first VIPE or venture investment in public equity. Arix led a A$24m placing in the Australian biotech, in which it will invest A$14.2m for a 11% holding. This will mean the […]