New manager for Shires Income – Following the merger of Aberdeen Asset Management PLC and Standard Life plc, and the subsequent integration of the equity teams at Aberdeen Standard Investments, the board of Shires Income PLC  has announced that Iain Pyle will become the lead investment manager on the company’s portfolio with immediate effect. The […]

Aberdeen New Thai aims to spice up returns – Aberdeen New Thai has reported results for the year ended 28 February 2018.  The Thai market, as represented by the Stock Exchange of Thailand index (“SET Index”), provided a total return of 21.6% in sterling terms. The chairman’s statement says that foreign investors were net sellers of […]

Syncona to benefit from Blue Earth value gain UK hybrid biotech investor/fund-of-funds Syncona (SYNC) should be able to take a c£64m increase in the value of its shareholding in Blue Earth Diagnostics this month, after the company was revalued on the back of an licensing agreement. The value of Syncona’s 90% holding in the diagnostics company will rise from £123.1m […]

Second Arix investee plans US IPO Arix Biosciences (ARIX), a LSE-listed life sciences VC investor, could potentially see two of its investee companies go public on the US stockmarkets in the coming weeks, after Iterum Therapeutics disclosed the filing of a Form S-1 registration statement with the US SEC.  Iterium’s move comes after another Arix investee company, Autolus – […]

€15.5 million sale of German non-core asset by Sirius Real Estate – The completion of the sale of the Bremen Brinkman business park for €15.5 million has been announced by the completion of the sale of its Bremen Brinkman business park for €15.5 million by Sirius Real Estate (SRE). The company say in the announcement that […]

Regional REIT purchases six new assets – Regional REIT (RGL) announced that it has exchanged contracts to purchase six regional assets from Kildare Partners for £35.2m in an off market transaction. The net income from the assets purchased is expected to be in the region of £3.1m per annum. This equates to a net initial yield […]

Ian Barrass to retire as co-fund manager of Henderson Alternative Strategies – The board of Henderson Alternative Strategies (HAST) has announced that Ian Barrass is to retire as co-fund manager at the end of June 2018 due to long-standing health issues. James de Bunsen, who has been the company’s co-fund manager since May 2014, will continue in […]

BBH and IBT set to reap rewards on Shire stake London-listed BB Healthcare (BBH) and International Biotech Trust (BIOG) are likely to be the main investment trust beneficiaries of the proposed takeover of Shire Pharmaceuticals by Japan’s Takeda, which was agreed  – subject to a number of conditions – last week.  Shire’s board agreed to recommend […]

Trust stalwart Regeneron cuts Praluent price Investment trust stalwart Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) and its partner Sanofi yesterday announced a deal with Express Scripts, under which they will substantially lower the net price of Praluent in exchange for exclusive coverage on the US pharmacy benefit manager’s national formulary. The move deals a blow to rival Amgen, […]

Colin Hughes to retire as co-fund manager of Henderson Opportunities Trust – The board of Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT) has announced that Colin Hughes, co-fund manager for the company is to retire from Janus Henderson Investors on 30 June 2018. James Henderson continues as the lead fund manager for the company, assisted by Laura Foll and Charlotte Greville. Laura […]

Gresham House proposal of acquisition and placing of new ordinary shares – Gresham House (GHE) has announced two proposals today. Firstly, it is planning to acquire an alternative investment fund manager and secondly to raise approximately £15.0m by a placing of new ordinary shares. Aquisition Gresham House is a specialist alternative asset manager and it is looking to […]

Frustrating year for EPE Special Opportunities – The poor performance of the company’s largest asset has brought down the NAV and share price of EPE Special Opportunities (ESO), it reports in its annual statement for the year to 31st January 2018.  However, moves are in place to improve performance. The NAV at 31 January 2018 was […]

BioPharma Credit leads new $315m loan to Sebela BioPharma Credit (BPCR), the LSE-listed specialist life sciences debt investor, is to act as lead investor and collateral agent for a US$315m term loan to Sebela Pharmaceuticals, a US privately-held commercial-stage speciality pharmaceutical company focused on gastrointestinal, dermatology and women’s healthcare. BioPharma Credit will provide $194m of the loan principal […]

INPP increases Cadent stake – International Public Partnerships Limited has agreed to acquire an additional interest in the Cadent gas distribution network. In March 2017, the Company announced that the Quadgas consortium of which INPP is part had acquired a 61% interest in National Grid’s gas distribution networks. INPP invested £274 million to get a 4.4% stake […]

Africa Opportunity held back by hedging and C Share meger costs – Over the course of 2017, Africa Opportunity’s net asset value per share (for its ordinary shares) rose by 16.9%. Superficially, this looks like a good return but, to provide some basis for comparison, South Africa rose 34%, Nigeria rose 30%, Kenya rose 35%, […]

Ranger opts for Ares Management – Ranger Direct Lending announced on 29th January 2018 that its investment management arrangements were under review. Twenty investment management firms engaged in the process and a shortlist of six met with the Board in March and April. The criteria applied to selection, inter alia, were: a desire to produce for […]

SQN will hand back £40m – While the board is pleased with the performance of the underlying investments made to date in SQN Asset Finance Income‘s C Share portfolio and the investment discipline in developing the portfolio, the speed of deployment has been slower than anticipated. At the date of this letter, approximately GBP66 million of the […]

OrbiMed-managed trusts benefit from Alexion’s rise Shares in trust favourite Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALXN) put on 12% last week on the back of a strong financial first quarter with upgraded guidance and positive top-line results from a  phase III study of ALXN1210, the company’s longer-acting follow-up to its blockbuster Soliris in the ultra-rate disease of […]

Stock selection down for British & American – British & American Investment Trust (BAF) has released its final annual report. Performance In it, the company reports that the NAV at the year end 31 December 2017 were £15.5m (2016:  £22.7m), a decrease of 31.5%. This compares to increases in the FTSE 100 and All Share indices of […]

BlackRock Smaller Companies’ 15 years record of strong performance continues – in its final report to 28 February 2018, the NAV of  BlackRock Smaller Companies (BRSC) increased by 20.8% to 1,506.78 pence per share, compared with its benchmark, the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding Investment Companies) Index, which increased by 8.3%. During the financial year, the share […]

Hg agrees sale of Teufel to Naxicap Partners – HgCapital Trust (HGT) has announced the sale of one of its portfolio companies, Teufel to Naxicap Partners. Hg will realise estimated cash proceeds of approximately £15.2m on the completion of this transaction. This would represent an uplift of £5.4m (56%) or 15 pence per share over the carrying value […]

HICL Infrastructure sells Highland Schools stake – HICL Infrastructure Company Limited has entered into an agreement to divest its 100% equity and subordinated debt interest in the Highland Schools PPP2 Project (“Highland Schools”) for GBP56.2m. The disposal is expected to complete during July 2018. The Group sought and received offers for its interest in Highland […]

Ranger reports on disappointing and frustrating year – Embattled Ranger Direct Lending has published its annual report for the year ended 31 December 2017. As its chairman points out, 2017 was a disappointing and frustrating year for the company. Total NAV returns fell by 2.95% in US dollar terms, but a sharp decline in the […]

Honeycomb beats its dividend target – Honeycomb Investment Trust has released its accounts covering the year ended 31 December 2017. Over the year the NAV increased to 1018.4p from 1014p. The £105m fund raising that they carried out last May, which was done at a premium to asset value, benefitted ongoing shareholders and added 1.03% to […]

GRIT focused on three key investments – Global Resources Investment Trust (GRIT) has published its annual results. The NAV has slipped to 19.7p from 22.4p but there is the potential for an uplift in this figure if its Kalia deal is agreed – see below. “In the Interim Report, we advised that Siberian Goldfields had […]

IBT tops up Shire and Celgene in  March SV Health-managed International Biotech Trust (IBT) recorded a 3.2% fall in NAV in March, slightly under-performing the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which was down by 2.9% in sterling terms. The manager reported that the main positive contributors of NAV in the month were Shire Pharmaceuticals, Nektar Therapeutics and […]

P2P recognises 2017 as a year of change – P2P Global Investments (P2P) has announce a change of management structure in its 12 months results to 31 December 2017. In the report it can be noticed that the NAV per share fell from last year but the discount reduced and the dividend rose, despite being uncovered. Performance The company […]

UK Mortgages gives acquisition update UK Mortgages (UKML) and its investment manager, TwentyFour Asset Management LLP have announced that heads of terms have been agreed for the purchase of a recently originated pool of mortgages. The transaction is expected to complete in the coming months and the likely size is expected to deploy the company’s current […]

UK Commercial Property Trust on the final furlong to REIT status – UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) has released its final results for the year ended 31 December 2017. REIT conversion UK Commercial Property Trust has been seeking to convert to a REIT. It has now received an irrevocable undertaking from its largest shareholder, Phoenix Life Limited, […]