RLE : Real Estate Investors buys in Walsall Real Estate Investors has taken the size of its property portfolio past the £100m mark with the acquisition of 59/75 Park Street Walsall for £7.7m. The parade of shops is let to a variety of tenants including Wallis Retail, Burton, Superdrug Stores, BHS Limited and Waterstones Booksellers […]

TRG : TR European Growth discount narrows as fund outperforms TR European Growth’s results for the year ended 30 June 2014 show the fund delivering a 34.3% total return on net assets for the year – well ahead of the 26.8% return on the fund’s benchmark (The Euromoney Smaller Companies Index excluding the UK). TR European […]

JPEL : JPMorgan Private Equity balance sheet improving JPMorgan Private Equity’s results for the year ended 30 June 2014 show its net asset value rising by 2.7% or 3 cents to $1.14. The shares moved up 5.5%, narrowing the discount a little but still leaving it close to 30%. The Board and managers say they […]

JMG : JPMorgan Emerging Manager mulls what makes a good investor JPMorgan Emerging Markets annual results for the year ended 30 June 2014 show the fund delivering a net asset return of -3.5%, behind the MSCI Emerging Markets Index which returned +1.4%. The return to shareholders was a bit better (-1.0%) as the discount narrowed […]

PIN : Flurry of deals increases Pantheon’s exposure to co-investments Pantheon International Participations has published results for the year ended 30 June 2014. The net asset value rose by 2% over the year and the share price rose by 10%, narrowing the discount from 22% to 16%. The performance lagged that of the FTSE All-Share […]

HICL : HICL Infrastructure adds to hospital exposure HICL Infrastructure is spending £61.5m to by the other half of the Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals PPP project that it did not own from Balfour Beatty. the funding from the deal came from their existing resources. The PPP project covers hospitals on two sites, building work was […]

SJG : Schroder Japan beats benchmark Schroder Japan Growth has published results for the year ended 31 July 2014. Over the year the strength of Sterling held back returns – translating a 15%+ gain in Yen terms into a 0.2% loss for the benchmark index. Schroder Japan Growth managed to beat this however, delivering a […]

RSE : Riverstone investment funds Bellatrix Exploration Riverstone Energy has announced that Canadian Non-Operated Resources Corp (a Riverstone investment earlier this year) is funding half the cost of drilling, completion, equipping and tie-in capital expenditures associated with Bellatrix’s development plans to the tune of $250m ($40m of which is Riverstone’s). Bellatrix has extensive acreage and […]

LMP : London Metric buys Dixon Carphone distribution centre London Metric Property is paying £68.5m to acquire a 726,500 sq ft  distribution centre in Newark leased to Dixons Carphone. The unit is let at a rent of £4.5m per annum with five yearly fixed uplifts to 3.0% pa compounded, and has an unexpired lease term […]

MCKS : McKay Securities expands redevelopment site in Woking McKay Securities has announced the acquisition of The Planets in Woking. The building occupies a site of just over an acre in the centre of Woking and is adjacent to a building (1 Crown Square) McKay bought in January this year. Currently The Planets is let to […]

WKP : Workspace sells part of Poplar Business Park to Telford Homes Workspace Group is selling the first phase of the redevelopment of its Poplar Business Park project (800m from Canary Wharf) to Telford Homes. Telford will build 170 apartments and 8,000 sq ft of light industrial space. Workspace is getting £16.3m in February 2015, […]

PAX : Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity ups convertible bond exposure Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity has published its interim accounts covering the six months to the end of June 2014. The net asset value rose by 4.8% over the period as the underlying Master fund rose in value by 5.1%. The announcement says that the Master […]

SQN : SQN Asset Finance lends against Snoozebox SQN Asset Finance announced in the middle of the month that its Board had approved £95m of investments and funded £15.9m of this. The Board said this was in-line with the progress they’d anticipated when the fund listed in July 2014. Today they have announced that they have […]

BABS, BABE, BABU, BBTS : Bluecrest spinning out systematic trading business Blucrest, managers of the Bluecrest BlueTrend and Bluecrest AllBlue funds, have announced that the systematic trading operations of the company are to be spun out into a separate vehicle, Systematica. The firm will launch in January 2015, and will initially have offices in Jersey, […]

RICA : Ruffer – dull performance precludes a crash? Ruffer Investment Company has published its annual accounts for the year ended 30 June 2014. Over the period its net asset value fell from £2.139 to £2.065, which after dividends translated into a negative total return of 2.6%. The share price fell by 6.5% over the period. […]

WKP : Workspace sells off ten industrial estates Workspace Group is selling off ten industrial estates, encompassing a total of 281,500 sq ft, for £44.3m The properties are being bought by Capital Industrial One BV. The price is a 35% premium to the value of the estates at the end of March 2014. The estates […]

ESP : Empiric Student Property adds to Southampton exposure Empiric Student Property has announced that it is paying £3.5m for a student accommodation property in Southampton. The property is on London Road in in central Southampton, close to Southampton Solent University and between the city centre and the University of Southampton and has 46 beds arranged […]

CYN : City Natural Resources High Yield up but underperforming City Natural Resources High Yield results for the year that ended on 30 June 2014 show a total return of 1.4% and a return to shareholders of 2.2% but the benchmark returned 6.1%. The dividend for the year was 5.6p, a 1.8% increase over the […]

GSS : Genesis Emerging Markets sells expensive Chinese internet stocks Genesis Emerging Markets has published its results for the year ended 30 June 2014. Over the period its net asset value rose from £5.61 to £5.78 – Sterling strength had an adverse impact on returns to UK investors. The 3% rise in the NAV came […]

THRG, BHUE : Richard Plackett stepping down as manager of investment trusts Richard Plackett is returning from his sabbatical on 7 October but will step down as co-manager of BlackRock Throgmorton Trust and BlackRock Hedge Selector. Ralph Cox who took on the job in Richard’s absence, will now get the job permanently.

BLCK : Blackstar Group hurt by weakening Rand Blackstar Group’s interims, covering the six months ended 30 June 2014, show its net asset value rising by 4.3% in Rand terms but by just 0.1% in Sterling terms as the Rand weakened vs. Sterling over the first half of 2014. Blackstar says it increased its stake […]

PJF : Prospect Japan considers investment in its manager Prospect Japan has announced that it is considering invest 3bn Yen ($28m) into a convertible issued by the ultimate parent of its fund manager. The convertible, to be issued by Gro-Bels Co Ltd., will have a coupon of 4% and converts into Gro-Bels’ shares at 60 […]

VOF : VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund selling stake in An Giang Plant Protection An Giang Plant Protection is the leading pesticides manufacturer and distributor in Vietnam. VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund is selling its 23.6% stake in the company for $63.1m. Over the period that VOF has held the stake it has generated an IRR of 23.7%. […]

FSFL : Foresight Solar plans fund raise to expand portfolio Foresight Solar Fund Limited has announced that two of its projects, Bournemouth and Kencot, are now connected to the grid. It has decided to raise £100m now and is also seeking shareholders’ permission to issue a further 200m shares between now and 24 September 2015 as and when […]

JMF : William Meadon steps down as co-manager of JPMorgan Mid Cap JPMorgan Mid Cap results for the year ended 30 June 2014 have been published today. These show the total return on net assets was 18.3%, ahead of the 17.8% return on the FTSE 250 Index. The discount tightened up resulting in a return […]

ESP : Empiric invests in Nottingham Empiric Student Property is buying a 98 bed student accommodation property in Nottingham. Talbot Studios opened in 2012 and is a purpose built property with 98 self-contained studio apartments together with various communal facilities. Empiric is paying £8.2m for the property. They say they’ll publish a trading update next […]

PMEA : PME Africa signals delay to portfolio sales PME Africa has reported an unchanged NAV for the half year to 30 June 2014 of $046. As shareholders rejected its proposal to become a rail transport company, PME Africa is focused on managing its remaining assets and finding buyers for them. The property they own […]

IIP : Flat NAV at Infrastructure India Infrastructure India’s results for the year ended 31 March 2014 have been published today. As the figures are almost six months old they probably aren’t much use for investors but the company has released more detail on the progress of its investments. The net asset value decreased marginally […]

ADAM : Adamas Finance NAV hit by dilutive issue Adamas Finance Asia saw its net asset value per share fall from 20.2 cents to 6.9 cents over the six months that ended on 30 June 2014. The principal reason for this was the fund’s issue (as a result of a reverse takeover) of 1.5bn shares at 6 […]