Oakley Capital to apply for specialist LSE listing – The UK-focused private equity investment company, Oakley Capital (OCI), has announced its intention to apply for admission of its ordinary shares to the specialist fund segment (SFS) of the London stock exchange’s (LSE) main market; OCI has given notice of the intended cancellation of trading of […]

Triple Point Social Housing announces £7.7m portfolio expansion – Triple Point Social Housing (SOHO) has announced that it has completed the acquisition of four supported housing properties and also acquired the land and entered into a forward funding arrangement to develop another supported housing project, comprising 46 units in total, for an aggregate commitment of approximately […]

Boussard & Gavaudan proposals unfriendly to smaller retail investors – The Europe-focused hedge fund company, Boussard & Gavaudan Holding (B&G), has struggled to arrest a long-standing discount and lack of liquidity in its sterling (BGHS) and euro (BGHL) shares – they both trade at discounts of more than 25 percent. Still, the detail behind the […]

BB Healthcare announces first half results and new chairman – BB Healthcare (BBH)’s chairman, professor Justin Stebbing, has stepped down from his role due to his other commitments, it has been announced. He will remain at the company in the capacity of non-executive director and will be succeeded as chairman by Randeep Grewal (currently a […]

Warehouse REIT growing its portfolio – Warehouse REIT (WHR) is busy expanding its portfolio; after raising £120m in April, the company has deployed a small chunk of the proceeds to acquire a warehouse property in Chorley, Lancashire for £3.60m and an industrial warehouse premises in Doncaster, South Yorkshire for £1.68m (extending its current holding at […]

Scottish Mortgage leads $121m round in AI-based biotech Recursion – Baillie Gifford-managed Scottish Mortgage lnvestment Trust (SMT) has led a $121m Series C private financing in Recursion Pharmaceuticals, a US-based company that combines automated experimental biology with artificial intelligence tools. The financing brought in three new institutional investors – Intermountain Ventures, University of Minnesota, Texas […]

Trust favourite Gilead expands R&D deal with Galapagos – US biotech giant Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) has entered into a ten-year R&D collaboration with  Galapagos (Euronext/NASDAQ: GLPG) covering rights to the Belgium group’s entire development portfolio. The transformative deal includes a $3.95bn upfront payment – a new record in the industry – as well as $1.1bn in […]

Polar Capital Technology delivers benchmark beating annuals  – Polar Capital Technology (PCT) has this morning announced full-year results to 30 April 2019 with NAV up by 24.7% year-on-year while the shares rose by 17.9%. PCT’s benchmark is the dow jones world technology index; PCT outperformed the benchmark, both last year by 5.6% and this year […]

Adamas Finance signs up partner for Japan ski investment – Adamas Finance Asia (ADAM) has this morning announced that further to the announcement made on 6 December 2018, a family office based in Hong Kong has agreed to participate alongside ADAM in its senior secured loan note facility provided to Infinity Capital Group (ICG). ICG […]

Symphony International adds to India exposure – Asia-focused Symphony International (SIHL) has invested in a minority stake in Good Capital Partners (GCP), the general partner of Good Capital Fund I as well as the owner of investment manager, Good Capital Management. GCP is owned by Rohan Malhotra and Arjun, who founded Investopad in 2014, laying […]

Aquila buys Norwegian wind farm – Aquila European Renewables Income Fund has announced the acquisition of its third investment, a 25.9% stake in Midfjellet Vindkraft AS, one of Norway’s largest operating wind farms. The Midtfjellet wind farm was built in three phases. Phases I and II comprise 44 N100 and N90 wind turbines (2.5 MW each) […]

JPMorgan Global Convertible gives up – At the AGM to be convened in November the board of JPMorgan Global Convertibles Income Fund was due to ask shareholders to approve a resolution to approve the continuation of the company. The board says it has been pleased with the company’s performance since the appointment of Hart Woodson as […]

TwentyFour Income Fund investors shrug off lacklustre returns – TwentyFour Income Fund has published results for the year ended 31 March 2019. Over the year, the NAV fell from 118.75p to 113.28p and the share price fell from 119.5p to 115.28p. The dividend was cut from 7.23p to 6.45p (the company was targeting dividends of at […]

Woodford watch – Proton again – Last Friday we wrote a short piece on Woodford Patient Capital’s largest investment, Proton Partners International. When we were researching this, one thing popped up that looked odd to us. Proton’s admission document said that Woodford got a £1m commission for entering into the commitment (in the form of […]

Chelverton UK Dividend shares dropped 31% – Over the year to the end of April 2019, Chelverton UK Dividend returned -9.9% in NAV terms as the company’s split capital structure magnified a -3.5% return on the portfolio. The share price divided from 251p to 173.5p – moving from a 0.6% premium to a 19% discount. […]

Invesco Asia buybacks narrow discount – A narrowing of Invesco Asia’s discount made up for underperformance in NAV terms over the year ended 30 April 2019.  The NAV total return for the period was 0.8% against 1.6% for the benchmark (MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index) but, as the discount moved from 13.0% to 8.9%, […]

Caledonia completes Stonehage Fleming deal – Caledonia Investments announced in December 2018 that it had agreed to acquire a minority stake in Stonehage Fleming & Family Partners Limited. Stonehage Fleming is a leading independently owned family office. The deal was structured as part of a tender offer and share buy-back offer made to Stonehage Fleming’s existing […]

Woodford Watch – Benevolent AI Over the last couple of days, following an article in the Sunday Times (behind a paywall so we haven’t linked to it), the talk has been of a fundraise for Benevolent AI at a substantial discount to the valuation that Woodford Patient Capital (WPCT) is holding it in its NAV. […]

Shield poised for FDA decision on Feraccru for anemia – Shield Therapeutics (STX) should hear at some point over the next two weeks whether the FDA will approve its oral iron supplement Ferracru for treatment of iron deficiency. The decision, due by 26 July, is of course important but is further complicated by a statistical issue with the […]

Morphosys takes option on Vivoryon’s QPCTL inhibitors in oncology – Germany’s Morphosys (MOR) has taken up an option to license Vivoryon’s family of inhibitors of the glutaminyl-peptide cyclotransferase-like (QPCTL) protein in oncology, in exchange for a commitment to invest €15m as part of a capital raising planned for later this year. The option covers Vivoryon’s lead compound […]

Intu Properties and Cale Street complete Derby JV– The shopping centre-focused real estate company, Intu Properties (INTU), and Cale Street Investments (Cale), an investment firm backed by the Kuwait Investment Office, the London office of the Kuwait Investment Authority, announced on 18 April 2019 that they were forming a joint venture that will own the […]

4D Pharma starts first trial in asthma – UK microbiome biotech 4D Pharma  (DDDD) has started a clinical trial of a live biotherapeutic, MRx-4DP000, in asthma, the first time such a drug concept has been tested in this condition. The double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase I/II study will enrol 90 patients whose asthma is inadequately controlled on inhaled therapy. Patients will […]