Update: Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA) and stablemate Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) want to merge, offering investors a 40% exit, but activist hedge fund Saba Capital, which owns around 30% of both investment trusts, is opposed. At a meeting yesterday, Saba was presented with the proposal, the product of advanced talks between the two boards of […]
Half-year results from Personal Assets (PNL), the £1.7bn absolute return fund, show its fund managers hiked the amount invested in equities by more than four percentage points in the half-year to 30 October, even as they prepared the defensive portfolio for a bursting in the US stock market bubble. Sebastian Lyon and Charlotte Yonge of Troy Asset Management said “somewhat paradoxically” they had increased equities from 36.7% to 41% in a […]
TR Property (TRY), the £1bn pan-European real estate fund, is on track to restoring dividend cover after seeing revenue rise 23% in the first half of its financial year. The 5%-yielder, which pays two dividends a year, lifted the interim payout to 5.75p per share up 1.8% from 5.65p a year ago. Revenue per share jumped 1.91p […]
Big Yellow (BYG) shares fell 6.5% in late trading yesterday on reports that Blackstone has walked away from talks over its proposed takeover of the UK’s largest self-storage business. In October the US investment group said it was at the “preliminary stage” of assessing whether to make an offer for a company with a then […]
Plans for Schiehallion (MNTN), the £1.1bn Baillie Gifford private equity fund, to become an investment trust hang in the balance after influential proxy vote adviser Institutional Shareholder Services recommended investors vote against the investment company at an extraordinary general meeting next week. Schiehallion, an investor in Tik-Tok owner ByteDance and SpaceX and other unquoted tech […]
Update: HICL Infrastructure (HICL) has pulled out of its proposed merger with InfraRed Capital stable mate The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) following an outcry from many shareholders. In a statement HICL said: “Both boards remain convinced of the strategic rationale for the combination. However, following broad engagement with shareholders, the HICL board determined that it […]
CT Private Equity (CTPE) fund manager Hamish Mair is to retire next May after running the investment trust for 26 years. Mair, who helped launch the then Martin Currie Capital Return Trust in 1999, will leave investment group Columbia Threadneedle and step down as CTPE’s lead manager after its annual general meeting. He will be […]
Activist Robert Naylor has taken over the wind-down of Aquila European Renewables (AERI) having been appointed chair on Friday to replace Ian Nolan who had served at the helm of the fund’s board since launch in 2019. Shares in the £141m renewables fund jumped from 35 euro cents to 37.3 at the news, narrowing their […]
This budget will probably be remembered for two things – obviously the bizarre early release by the OBR but also the, almost as perplexing, plans for a mansion tax. It was packed with short-term political manoeuvring that sadly took precedence over long-term growth initiatives, but there were a couple of positive spots. Reforming the ISA […]
After decades of dedication to growing actively managed strategies within listed fund structures, investment trusts and REITs, I thought I had a fairly comprehensive view of the landscape. But reading our latest market overview research, European active ETFS – A growing and evolving market this week was a timely reminder of how much the investment […]
Foresight Environmental Infrastructure (FGEN) is on track to deliver covered full-year dividends of 7.96p per share, offering investors a 12% yield at the current depressed share price standing at a 37% discount to net asset value (NAV). Chair Ed Warner pointed to a more diverse portfolio than other renewables funds for a comparatively resilient performance […]
Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) chair Patrick Cox is to step down in January, six months earlier than previously indicated, with Angus Gordon Lennox, one of two board appointments made last month, succeeding him on 19 January. Lennox, chair of Aberforth Geared Value & Income (AGVI), former chair of Mercantile (MRC) investment trust and former […]
The growing inference capabilities of AI models can enhance business-critical software used by companies to analyse data, automate workflows and optimise processes. Rapid progress in ‘training’ artificial intelligence models paves the way for AI’s deployment in a spectrum of real-world applications. As trained models become capable of independently making decisions or predictions based on new […]
The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has urged shareholders in Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) to vote in the forthcoming general meeting called by Saba Capital yesterday as its board rejected the activist hedge fund’s renewed attempt to replace its board. Jonathan Simpson-Dent, chair of the £700m global smaller companies investment trust, said the board was “disappointed” […]
Fund management group M&G, a 3.4% shareholder in HICL Infrastructure (HICL), has joined rebel investors in calling for it to abandon a planned £5.3bn merger with The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG). According to The Times, M&G managers have written to the HICL board saying they can see “no strategic nor financial rationale for the combination” […]
The flotation of Mexican gas pipeline operator Esentia Energy has proven a disappointment for Partners Group Private Equity (PEY) which has had to write down the value of what was its 11th biggest holding. The £708m London-listed fund invests in the private equity funds of Switzerland’s Partners Group, the majority owner of Esentia, which cut […]
Macau Property Opportunities (MPO) has plunged to a new all-time low after shareholders in the specialist property fund refused to support its emergency fund raising. Shares in the company, which owns residential properties in Macau, a special administrative region on the south coast of China, crashed 55%, or 7.3p, to just over 6p after MPO […]
Saba Capital has warned Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) of its plans to requisition a general meeting in a second attempt to remove the board of the £700m investment trust. The activist hedge fund, which owns 30% of the trust’s shares, failed to get its representatives elected at an EGM in February. It says it remains “profoundly […]
Digital 9 Infrastructure (DGI9) shares fell nearly 30% yesterday after the company said Macquarie European Infrastructure fund had sold its 26.5% stake in Arqiva, the UK broadcasting platform for £16.5m, as part of its liquidation. The price is well below the £213.2m valuation of DGI9’s 51.8% stake in Arqiva. DGI9, whose wind-down is being managed […]
Reports that the Treasury was targeting salary sacrifice pension arrangements proved well founded as the chancellor announced she would charge both employers and employees national insurance (NI) on contributions over £2,000 from 2029. Given that individuals agree to divert some of their pay into their pension in order to lower NI payments, a benefit that […]
The chancellor’s need to fill the budget “black hole” trumped over her wish to encourage investing and saving as she lifted income tax on dividends and interest by 2% and created new bands for rental income. Increasing tax on the income from property, investment and cash assets will raise £2.2bn by 2029/30. The government believes […]
Venture capital trust (VCT) providers have questioned the chancellor’s commitment to a “startup” Britian after she cut upfront income tax relief on investments in their tax shelters from 30% to 20%. The Treasury said the measure was aimed at achieving a better balance in the amount of tax relief given to VCTs compared to enterprise […]
In another effort to support London’s moribund capital markets, the chancellor announced a three-year stamp duty exemption on trading in shares in companies listing in the UK. The relief from 0.5% stamp duty reserve tax applied to the value of purchases in newly listed companies begins tomorrow. In her speech, Rachel Reeves made it sound […]
The amount savers under 65 can put into cash ISAs will be slashed from £20,000 to £12,000 as the chancellor tries to revive the UK stock market after a five-year investor exodus. Although the overall £20,000 ISA allowance will remain, Rachel Reeves said from April 2027 £8,000 of that must go into a stocks and […]
The Office for Budget Responsibility has published details of the Budget early. In an extraordinary development, minutes before the chancellor’s speech, the Budget watchdog revealed the government’s plans to: The OBR also lifted its inflation forecast from 2.1% to 2.5% next year. The pound rose in anticipation that interest rates will not be cut as […]
Alarm bells are not ringing yet for Edinburgh (EDIN) shareholders but the £1.1bn UK equity income investment trust has just recorded its second period of underperformance under fund managers Imran Sattar and Emily Barnard. Their underweight to banks, the absence of Rolls-Royce‘s (RR) stunning recovery from the portfolio and the unexciting performance of Haleon (HLN), the Sensodyne toothpaste to […]
NextEnergy Solar (NESF), the highest yielding but in share price terms one of the worst performing renewables funds, has appointed a new chair with mergers and acquisitions experience, raising the possibility the company may look for a buyer. Tony Quinlan, a former chief executive of Laird who sold the engineer to private equity group Advent […]
Polar Capital Global Healthcare (PCGH) has received a massive endorsement from shareholders and will proceed to the next stage of its journey after less than a quarter of shares were tendered in the company’s 100% exit. Shareholders were free to sell all their stakes in the £508m investment trust’s tender offer but only 22.5% did […]
GCP Asset Backed Income (GABI), the £147m debt fund in wind-down since July last year, will return £33.5m to shareholders through a third compulsory partial redemption of shares. The price per share will reflect their net asset value of 79.79p at 30 June minus costs. Payment is expected in December. US Solar Fund (USF) said […]
AVI Japan Opportunity (AJOT) fund manager Asset Value Investors (AVI) has sold 1m shares in the £226m investment trust shortly before it expands from the takeover of Fidelity Japan (FJV). Since launching the small-cap activist fund seven years ago, AVI has invested at least a quarter of its annual management fee into AJOT shares, building […]
