ARR : Aurora hit by range of stock specific problems Aurora Investment Trust underperformed during the six months that ended on 31 August – the net asset value return was -2.5% vs. a 0.7% fall in the FTSE All-Share Index. The discount narrowed a little however (from 13.4% to 12.2%) and so the return to […]

MVI : Marwyn invests in Haversham Holdings Marwyn Value Investors LP (the master fund that underlies Marwyn Value Investors Limited) is investing £8.95m as part of a £30m fund raise for Haversham Holdings. Haversham Holdings is a new shell company that is floating on AIM. Haversham will target acquisitions in the UK & European automotive, support […]

THRL : Target Healthcare says it’s on track Target Healthcare REIT’s first set of results were published earlier in October and today it has published its first annual report. On 30 June 2014 its share price was 104.75 – a 10.6% premium to net asset value, and it had declared dividends totalling 8p since listing. […]

AAS : Better second half for Aberdeen Asian Smaller The year to the end of July 2014 saw Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies generate a negative return for shareholders of 4.2%. By contrast the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index returned 7.3% and the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Small Cap Index returned 4.6% […]

CMB : Cambria Africa sells Leopard Rock Hotel Cambria Africa has released a trading update covering the period up to the end of August 2014. They say their two main investments, Payserv and Millichem, delivered organic revenue and gross profit growth of 11% over the year. Millichem acquired another business, C&M, which is being integrated […]

NEPI : New European Property raising 1.1bn Rand of new equity New European Property is raising 1.1bn South African Rand (about €80m) of new equity to help fund two recent acquisitions. The equity issue is being done as part of a vendor consideration placing (a type of deal where the person selling the asset is given […]

PLI : Perpetual Income and Growth cuts fees The Board of Perpetual Income and Growth has negotiated a reduction in the fees it pays to Invesco. The base management fee, which is currently 0.75% on assets will fall to 0.6% on the first £500m of assets and 0.4% thereafter. The performance fee has a cap […]

BRGE : BlackRock Greater Europe suffers in second half BlackRock Greater Europe has announced results for the year that ended on 31 August 2014 that show its net asset value delivered a total return of 4.5% over the year – the fund underperformed the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index which returned 10.4% and unfortunately […]

BHUE : BlackRock Hedge Selector shrinks ahead of review result BlackRock Hedge Selector has announced that its December redemption facility was oversubscribed – shareholders with 6.54m shares tried to exit – more than the 5.2m share exit that was available under the facility. The fund will therefore shrink by 20%. In the meantime, we are still […]

KWE : Kennedy Wilson gets the £350m it was looking for Kennedy Wilson Europe, which was looking to raise £351.5m from a placing and open offer announced earlier in the month, says it got all the money it was after – shareholders took up 76% of the open offer shares and the balance came from the […]

JZCP : JZ Capital sells Milestone Aviation JZ Capital has sold its interest in Milestone Aviation for $40m. They paid a total of $15.1m for this investment – starting in September 2010. The exit price represents an exit multiple of 2.8x and an IRR of 36%. Milestone Aviation is the world’s largest helicopter leasing company […]

MPO : Macau Property spends $23.5m on house Macau Property Opportunities has bought a luxury private house adjacent to its existing investment, The Green House. Macau Property believes there is upside if they can convert the two properties into one single luxury residence, citing the scarcity of detached property in Macau. The house they have […]

SVI : SVG Capital sells Arysta for £221m SVG Capital has announced that Industrial Equity Holdings, an investment company owned by Permira, has sold Arysta Life Sciences. The deal values SVG Capital’s stake at £221m. Arysta is involved in the development, marketing and distribution of chemical solutions for the agroscience and health & nutrition science marketplace. When […]

NSA : Nimrod Sea Assets buys share of seismic vessel Nimrod Sea Assets is spending $6.65m to buy a 17.5% stake in the partnership that owns the M/V Oceanic Endeavour, “a high-end, 16 streamer, seismic vessel bareboat chartered to CGG Eidesvik and then time chartered to CGG Veritas”. The seismic data produced by the vessel […]

CGOP : China Growth Opportunities closer to restoring trading China Growth Opportunities, which has been suspended from trading since 13 October 2014 when its nominated adviser resigned, is posting an AGM notice to shareholders. On 6 November shareholders will be asked to approve a new investment policy alongside a Waiver of Rule 9 of the […]

JPI, JPIU : JPMorgan Income & Capital underperforms in first half Over the six months to end August 2014 JPMorgan Income & Capital’s return on the portfolio was zero – a bit less than the 1.8% return on its benchmark (90% FTSE350 Index and 10% Barclays Capital Global Corporate Bond Index). Without any growth in the portfolio […]

APT : Cash returns help Axa Property’s shares rise Axa Property Trust’s net asset value fell by 7.9% over the year to the end of June 2014 but its share price rose so that shareholders got a total return of 14.3% for the year. No dividend is being declared. The company sold five properties during […]

DLN : Derwent London gets planning for Berners Street Derwent London has announced that it has received planning consent for its proposed development at 25-29 Berners Street, London (in Fitzrovia / North Soho). The development will provide 105,000 sq ft of space, 20,000 sq ft of which will be retail and the balance offices. The […]

JUS : Jupiter US Smaller let down by discount Jupiter US Smaller Companies has announced its results for the year that ended on 30 June 2014. The fund outperformed – generating a return on net assets of 11.0% vs. an 8.3% return on the Russell 2000 Index. The company’s rating deteriorated however (moving from a […]

NSA : Nimrod Sea Assets buys dive support vessel Nimrod Sea Assets has bought a dive support vessel (to be renamed Red 7 Alliance) for $10.6m. The deal has been achieved by acquiring a 99.5% stake in the company that owns the boat. Red 7 Alliance will be back-to-back bareboat chartered to Red7Marine Group (a […]

VNL : Vinaland raises $31m from asset sales Vinaland has published its results for the year that ended on 30 June 2014. Over the period the net asset value fell by a cent from $0.93 to $0.92 but this unexciting result masks considerable activity in the portfolio as property worth $31.4m was sold. The company sold […]

PCTN : Picton Property gets planning permission for scheme in Swindon Picton Property has a six acre site – Westlea Campus in Chelmsford Road Swindon. Planning permission has just been granted to build a 15,000 sq ft supermarket and 70 residential units on the site. Picton has already done a deal with Aldi to sell […]

GLIF : GLI Finance buys stake in UK Bond Network GLI Finance has announced the acquisition of a 16.6% stake in UK Bond Network (www.ukbondnetwork.com) UK Bond Network is a peer-to-peer bond platform. It provides bespoke finance to companies seeking loans or bond finance in the £500,000 to £4m range. The announcement describes how UK […]

RUG : RENN Universal Growth plans liquidation RENN Universal Growth plans to ask shareholders to approve putting the company into voluntary liquidation. The Board is keen to enact this before selling off more of RUG’s portfolio so as not to lose the benefit of RUG’s investment trust status. The statement says “while the Manager continues […]

NCYF : New City High Yield makes 10% for year New City High Yield generated a total return on net assets of 10.3% for the year that ended on 30 June 2014. The shareholder return was 13.7% as the shares moved to trade on a 4.6% premium. The dividend was raised to 4.21p. The manager’s […]

JPG : Jupiter Primadona discount narrowing offsets underperformance Jupiter Primadona Growth has published its results for the year that ended on 30 June 2014. Over the year it generated a return on net assets of 9.7%, underperforming its benchmark, but shareholders did much better than that as the rating on the fund improved significantly, eliminating the […]

BRWM : BlackRock World Mining writes off London Mining exposure With apologies for not picking this up yesterday, BlackRock World Mining, in its usual NAV announcement, disclosed that it had written off its £52m exposure to London Mining. This is a big blow to the net asset value – taking about 30p off the net […]

NESF : NextEnergy Solar looking to raise over £250m NextEnergy Solar Fund has announced that it has identified a pipeline of potential deals worth about £210m and has identified additional deals worth £333m.  They have a revolving credit facility worth up to £31.5m and can use this to get the ball rolling but to fund […]

HNE : Narrowing discount boosts returns from Henderson Eurotrust The year that finished on 31 July 2014 was a good one for shareholders in Henderson Eurotrust as its discount narrowed considerably on top of outperformance of its benchmark index. For the period Henderson Eurotrust generated a return on net assets of 5.4% against a 4.1% […]