Genmab commits to new bispecific cancer immunotherapy programme Danish biotech Genmab (Nasdaq Copenhagen: GEN) has paid $54m upfront and committed to pay up to $1.65bn in R&D, regulatory and commercial milestones to the private German biotech Immatics as part of a deal to discover and develop three next-generation bispecific cancer immunotherapies. Genmab, which is Europe’s […]

EC approves Ionis’ amyloidosis drug Ionis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IONS) has received marketing authorisation from the European Commission for Tegsedi (inotersen), its RNA-targeted therapeutic for stage 1 or 2 polyneuropathy in adults with hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR). This is the first approval for the drug and unusually EU approval has come through ahead of the US, with the outcome of […]

No dramas for aircraft leasing funds – Doric Nimrod Air One through Three published their annual reports last night and Amedeo Air Four published its quarterly report. Doric Nimrod Air One is the simplest of the four funds. It purchased one asset, an Airbus A380-861, in December 2010 which it leased to Emirates.  A $122m senior secured finance facility provided by […]

Primary Health Properties makes its fifth acquisition in Eire – Primary Health Properties (PHP) has contracted to fund and acquire a purpose built primary care centre in the Republic of Ireland. The company, which is doing this with its Irish investment vehicle Primary Health Properties ICAV, will provide development funding for the construction of the centre in Bray, County Wicklow, for […]

River and Mercantile Micro Cap to return more cash – The Board of River and Mercantile UK Micro Cap intends to undertake another compulsory redemption of its redeemable ordinary shares. The company has a redemption mechanism in place, which is used periodically to return capital to shareholders, so as to return the company’s net asset value to around GBP100 […]

GCP Infrastructure on First Priority Housing – Civitas Social Housing was not the only fund with exposure to First Priority Housing, the housing association that got itself into difficulties when it ended up with a lot of empty properties. On 22 February 2018 the Board of GCP Infrastructure announced that the directors and the investment adviser, Gravis Capital Management, were monitoring […]

Funding Circle SME Income report a solid set of results – Funding Circle SME Income Fund (FCIF) delivered its annual financial report for the 12 month period to 31 March 2018. Highlights The NAV per ordinary share rose by 14.9% (total return) over the report period. The share price remains at a premium to NAV of 4.8% and is little changed […]

Hipgnosis Songs Fund buys into The-Dream – Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited has reached agreement to acquire its first music catalogue from Terius Youngdell Nash, better known by his stage name The-Dream. Hipgnosis Songs will acquire a 75% interest in the catalogue for up to US$23.75m. The remaining 25% interest in the catalogue will be retained by The-Dream. The […]

NewRiver REIT buys Hollywood – Retail & Leisure Park (Barrow in Furness) – not California! NewRiver has acquired Hollywood Retail & Leisure Park, Barrow-in-Furness, from an institutional investor for GBP15.3 million. They say that the deal offers NewRiver a number of opportunities to extract further value, including the immediate conversion of two existing units to introduce a 20,000 […]

Hibernia sells Dublin office for €65.3m – Hibernia REIT (HBRN ID) has exchanged contacts to sell New Century House in Dublin for €65.3m.  The buyer is a fund managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management Global Real Estate. Completion is expected to occur in September 2018. Hiberia report that the price is modestly ahead of the March 2018 […]

LondonMetric Property swaps Odeon for shed – LondonMetric Property has exchanged on the sale of an Odeon Cinema in Warrington for GBP13.7 million, reflecting a NIY of 4.8%, and acquired an urban logistics asset in Milton Keynes for GBP12.0 million, reflecting a deemed NIY of over 5.0%. At Warrington, the 10 screen, 36,000 sq ft cinema formed part of […]

Celgene claims win for luspatercept in Believe trial Specialist trust favourite Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG) has reported positive result in a Phase III trial with the drug candidate luspatercept for treatment of anaemia associated with beta-thalassemia. This follows the company’s success in the Medalist Phase III trial win with the same drug in anaemia associated with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The unambiguous […]

Atlantis Japan has another great year – Atlantis Japan Growth Fund has published results for the year ended 30 April 2018. The NAV per share increased by 38.8% compared to an increase of 13.5% for the TOPIX in GBP. Aided by this strong NAV performance, the market capitalisation has now increased to over GBP110m. The discount was 9.6% on […]

NextEnergy Solar adds 10 solar plants to its portfolio –  and adds a new revolving credit facility of £40.0 million with Santander. As part of its ongoing growth programme, NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) has acquired ten operating solar plants with a total installed capacity of 66.8 MWp in the West Country.  The aquisition was done by way of a share […]

Fidelity Special Values lowers its fees – The board of Fidelity Special Values (FSV) has followed other companies in the Fidelity Investment trust stable by arranging with Fidelity, the investment manager, a lower new tiered fee structure. Fidelity European Values was the first to announce its lower fee in March 2018. Fidelity Japanese Values and Fidelity China Special Situations announced the same in […]

Investment Trust Insider on recent new issues – James Carthew: can Ashoka overcome a disappointing launch? It has been a week of contrasts in the new issue market. Tritax EuroBox (BOXE) raised its maximum target of £300 million in an issue that was ‘significantly oversubscribed’ and Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG) raised over £200 million. Whereas […]

Henderson Diversified Income produces modest NAV return – Henderson Diversified Income Trust has published results for the year ended 30 April 2018. The net asset value total return per ordinary share for the year ended 30 April 2018 was 1.8% whilst the share price total return per ordinary share was 4.4% reflecting a widening in […]

RESI becomes a Registered Provider – Residential Secure Income (ReSI), which was set up to invest in the residential asset classes that comprise the stock of UK social housing providers, has announced that itI, through its wholly owned subsidiary ReSI Housing Limited, has become the first publicly listed investment fund to become a Registered Provider with the […]

Better Capital deal lapses – Further to the announcement of 25 June 2018 about the proposed sale of Northern Aerospace (NAL), BECAP 12 GP Limited (the GP) has informed Better Capital PCC Limited that: “Permission to complete the sale was not obtained from the Competition and Markets Authority by the revised contractual deadline, despite requests […]

FastForward NAV jumps – FastForward Innovations has published results for the year ended 31 March 2018. Highlights: Net assets of GBP13,534,000 (2017: net assets of GBP10,101,000). NAV per share increased by a third from 7.60p to 10.18p. Three new investments in the year, including a significant investment in a Canadian medical cannabis business Successful sale of the […]

John Laing Environmental adds two anaerobic digestion plants – John Laing Environmental Assets has announced the acquisition of two anaerobic digestion (AD) assets, Egmere Energy Limited and Grange Farm Energy Limited, for a total consideration of c.GBP36 million. The Egmere Energy AD plant is located in Egmere, North Norfolk and was commissioned in November 2014. […]

Key trust holding Biogen claims rare Alzheimer’s trial success Trust favourite Biogen saw its stock rise by 20% on Friday, after reporting a surprise apparently positive result from a Phase II study with the anti-amyloid beta protofibril antibody BAN-2401 in the notoriously tough indication of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the share price boost to Biogen probably reflects the implied […]

Oakley Capital selling Damovo – Oakley Capital Investments Limited says that Oakley Capital Private Equity II has reached an agreement to sell its stake in Damovo Group, a leading independent European unified communications and collaboration company, to Eli Global. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, values Damovo at up to EUR140 million, comprising an […]

Standard Life Investments Property Income makes three acquisitions – Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust has completed three purchases for a total of GBP32.48m. The largest of the three assets is a Tier 3 Data Centre in Birmingham, let to a major operator for a term of 20 years, subject to a tenant only lease break […]

Autolus IPO boosts WPCT to top of specialist trust league in June The Nasdaq float of Autolus, one its top ten investee companies, boosted Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) to top position in the performance league table of biotech/healthcare specialist investment trusts for the month of June, both in terms of price and NAV total return. […]

UK Commercial Property REIT swaps Bristol office for Reading – UK Commercial Property REIT has bought the White Building, a multi-let office asset on King’s Road in Reading and sold 1 Rivergate, an office building on Temple Quay in Bristol city centre. The White Building The White Building was acquired from Boultbee Brooks Real Estate […]

Workspace sells Marshgate Business Centre – Workspace Group has exchanged contracts for the disposal of a mixed-use redevelopment of Marshgate Business Centre in Stratford, E15. The redevelopment, comprising 200 residential units, has been sold for GBP15m in cash and the return of a new 33,000 sq. ft. business centre. The sale price is in line […]

Empiric Student Property on track to cover dividend in 2019 – Empiric Student Property has published update on trading ahead of the Company’s half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2018 (which will be announced on Tuesday, 21 August 2018). They says that they continue to make good progress on delivering financial and […]

Invesco Income Growth is a new dividend hero – Invesco Income Growth says that its total return on net asset value for the year to 31 March 2018 was -3.9%, compared with an equivalent All-Share Index return of +1.2%. The Income Growth sector has been out of favour with investors, so that discounts in the sector have widened, […]