Annual results from JPMorgan Japanese (JFJ) have demonstrated that style divisions between “growth” and “value” investors are not always as clear cut as they appear. The £1.1bn investment trust of quality growth stocks delivered a 25% underlying investment return in the year to 30 September, beating the 16.9% gain in Japan’s Topix index. Fund managers […]

Private equity fund Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) has committed £3m to an £8m fund raise by Time Out Group (TMO) after the £43m listings and events group suffered a slump in media revenues caused by the growing use by consumers of AI and social media. OCI, a £937m investment company that invests in the private […]

RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) has invested $5.9m in the series A financing of Yarrow Bioscience, a new clinical-stage company it helped found to develop transformative therapies for autoimmune thyroid diseases. This week Yarrow and fund manager RTW Investments announced a global ex-China licence agreement for Yarrow’s main treatment with Shanghai Scizeng Medical Technology, a subsidiary of Changchun GeneScience […]

US bond giant PIMCO has expanded its exchange-traded fund range with the launch of two active ETFs focused on global and European government bonds. The PIMCO Advantage Global Government Bond UCITS ETF (GOVI) and PIMCO Advantage Euro Government Bond UCITS ETF (EUGO) will seek to outperform their respective benchmarks, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Treasury and […]

(Update of article published yesterday) Baillie Gifford has hiked its valuation of SpaceX by 87% according to updates published by four of its investment trusts yesterday. This includes flagship Scottish Mortgage, which saw its net asset value (NAV) jump by a remarkable £1bn in one day Citing a “trigger event that required an upwards adjustment” in the valuation, Scottish […]

Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) has urged shareholders to come to its rescue for a second time this year after activist hedge fund Saba Capital followed through on its threat to call an extraordinary general meeting. Saba, which holds a 30% position in the £744m global smaller companies investment trust, wants to oust the board’s six directors […]

Pressure on Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) from activist investors has mounted following this week’s half-year results with Saba Capital doubling its stake to 10% and RM Funds calling on the board to cut costs and consider appointing a new investment manager. Saba, the US hedge fund currently embroiled in an argument with Baillie Gifford […]

Abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) has defied the call from its largest shareholder, DL Invest, to halt its wind-down and sale of assets, saying the process is largely complete and the costs of changing corporate direction are too high. Responding to the open letter published this week by the Polish logistics group, which owns 19% […]

Schroder European Real Estate (SERE) has received formal 12-month notice from Dutch telecoms group KPN of its intention to terminate its lease on the company’s Apeldoorn office and data centre in the Netherlands, a move that could impact the 8.4%-yielder’s dividends. The fund manager of the £83m real estate investment trust is “pursuing a number […]

Vanguard has re-entered the European active ETF market with the launch of a euro cash fund five years after it pulled out citing insufficient investor demand. In a sign of more positive times in the rapidly growing active exchange-traded fund segment, the index-tracking giant listed the Dublin-based EUR Cash UCITS ETF on Euronext, with the […]

HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) has agreed to sell $300m (£224m) of assets from its $4.6bn portfolio to boost share buybacks and highlight the extreme undervaluation of its stock. Five HVPE positions in buyout funds will be sold over the next year at a blended discount of 6% below the 30 June valuation. That contrasts […]

Macau Property Opportunities (MPO) has fallen to a new low after the Guernsey investment company declared itself in default for not repaying a £1.5m loan secured on its Penha Heights development that was due yesterday. The Guernsey investment company, which last month cancelled a £1.7m fund raise due to a lack of shareholder support, said it […]

US Solar Fund (USF), the £107m Amber Infrastructure managed fund standing on a 45% discount, has provided detailed disclosure on the technical, non-weather factors resulting in third quarter generation falling 13.3% below forecast, with just 2.1% due to below forecast solar irradiance. It said the majority of the 11.2% technical variance was attributable to the […]

US fund management giant T Rowe Price plans to expand its active ETF business into Europe next year. The Baltimore-based group, which has 1.8trn total assets, told ETF Stream: “Following the success and steady expansion of our ETF offerings in the US, we are now scoping the potential to launch European-listed active ETFs in the […]

Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) has disappointed shareholders in the international battery fund with a 12.4% drop in net asset value (NAV) and a half-year dividend that fell short of expectations. For the six months to 30 September, NAV per share fell 12.7p from 102.8p to 90.1p, below the 97.6p it had in June 2018 […]

Activist investor Metage Capital has increased the pressure on private equity fund Pantheon International (PIN) to buck up its capital allocation programme, demanding it sell at least £500m, or 22%, of its portfolio to fund share buybacks.  In an open letter to the investment trust’s board, London-based Metage, holder of 4.78m PIN shares, a 1.1% […]

Shares in Abrdn European Logistics Income (ASLI) have tumbled after an 18% shareholder demanded a halt to its wind-down which it claimed was damaging to investors and the stock traded ex-dividend ahead of a return of capital. Polish logistics developer DL Invest has called for a general meeting of shareholders to halt the further sale […]

Taylor Maritime (TMI), the former shipping fund that sailed out of the investment companies sector in January, is to make a bumper $143.4m (£107m) return of capital to shareholders early next year. The $287m dry bulk fleet operator’s distribution of half its market value will come with a quarterly dividend of 8 cents per share […]

Brunner (BUT) has a new co-lead manager at Allianz Global Investors with James Ashworth promoted to work alongside Julian Bishop who has run the global portfolio with Christian Schneider, chief investment officer for global growth at AGI, for three years. Schneider will continue to support the team as a deputy manager alongside Merchants (MRCH) manager […]

Ecofin Global Utilities and Infrastructure (EGL) is to lift dividends by 5.9% after a morale-boosting second half recovery helped pushed its annual return to 15%. The £223m investment trust’s growth in net asset value (NAV) in the year to 30 September compared well to its two main performance benchmarks. It was just behind the 15.4% […]

BlackRock Frontiers (BRFI), the £338m investor in sub-emerging and smaller emerging countries, beat its benchmark in the year to 30 September, putting it in a good position ahead of a five-yearly 100% exit opportunity in February. Fund managers Sam Vecht and Emily Fletcher delivered a 15.1% total underlying return in dollars (14.7% in sterling) that […]

Update with Baillie Gifford response: Saba Capital boss Boaz Weinstein has attacked Baillie Gifford for reducing the positions held in SpaceX by Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) and Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA) investment trusts. Tweeting on X, Weinstein said he had received calls from “furious” shareholders in both trusts, where Saba holds around 30%, amid reports […]

Annual results from GCP Infrastructure (GCP) have disappointed shareholders waiting for a big disposal that could fund a significant return of capital and reward them for holding on to stock standing 30% below net asset value (NAV). The £590m investment company, however, did say that its investment adviser Gravis Capital was “actively progressing transactions” that […]

JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income (JAGI) sounds confident as it prepares for its next three-yearly continuation vote in February after a strong set of annual results following the reorganisation of its fund management team last year. Rebounds in China, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea in the second half of the financial year more than offset problems […]

TwentyFour Select Monthly Income (SMIF) is considering upping some of its monthly dividends after another strong year saw the 8%-yielder once again surpass its 6p per share payout target. The £288m debt fund, which mostly invests in fixed income stocks and some “floating rate” assets, has paid shareholders 0.5p a month for most of its […]

Activist hedge fund Saba Capital doubled its position in SDCL Energy Efficiency Income (SEIT) to 10% on Tuesday, the day after its shares tumbled 18% after the company said in half-year results that it was looking at all strategic options, prioritising debt reduction and warned it may not recommend shareholders vote for the company’s continuation next year. […]

Jupiter and Goldman Sachs have today expanded their active ETF ranges following recent acquisitions enabling them to offer more to the rapidly growing segment of the exchange-traded fund market. Jupiter JOGS on Jupiter Asset Management has launched the Jupiter Origin Global Smaller Companies UCITS ETF (JOGS) on the London Stock Exchange and Swiss SIX exchange. […]

Ruffer (RICA) fund managers have flagged UK housebuilders as attractive now that Budget uncertainty is out of the way. In their monthly update, Jasmine Yeo, Ian Rees and Alexander Chartres, managers of the £868m defensive, multi-asset fund, said the overall UK stock market looked good value compared to global peers. “One area of opportunity is […]