News

07 Feb 2014

JP Morgan US Smaller : JUSC – share split

JP Morgan US Smaller Companies investment trust is planning to try to raise some more money and split its shares so that for each existing share shareholders will get ten new ones. The Board is asking shareholders to approve the issue of new shares up to an amount equivalent to 20% of the existing share […]

06 Feb 2014

Northern Investor : NRI – planning £14m tender

Northern Investors will return £14.1m to shareholders via a tender. Shareholders must apply to take part by 11am on 28 February, the tender will hopefully be approved at a meeting on 3 March and tendering shareholders will get their cash on or after 7 March

06 Feb 2014

ARC Capital : ARCH – update on Orient Home and Funtalk

In December 2010 ARC Capital lent Orient Home Co Limited RMB480m ($79m) so that it could buy Orient Home Industrial Co. but, although “Orient Home Co failed to comply with the conditions precedent set out in the Agreement” which should have meant that the loan should have been repaid, it wasn’t. In July 2013 ARC Capital […]

06 Feb 2014

BP Marsh : BPM – invests more in LEBC Holdings

BP Marsh (which provides venture capital to financial services businesses) has bought a 12% stake in LEBC for £1m and lent another £1m to LEBC’s employee benefit trust to allow it to buy more shares in the company. LEBC is an IFA with £2bn under advisory operating from 11 branches across the UK. BPM first invested […]

06 Feb 2014

Foresight Solar : FSFL – buys new plant

Foresight Solar is buying a 10.7MW solar power plant – Hunters Race on 12.4ha of a former quarry in West Sussex. Altogether FSFL now has 137.4MW of generating capacity across seven plants. Only one 32MW plant, in Leicestershire, is currently delivering energy to the grid. However Castle Eaton and High Penn are expected to be grid connected […]

05 Feb 2014

British Land : BLND – ups stake in Hercules unit trust

British Land is buying £41m worth and tendering for an additional £35m worth of additional units in the Hercules unit trust at a price equivalent to a 3.8% discount to NAV. Hercules unit trust owns £1.5bn of retail property spread across 17 retail parks including the Glasgow Fort Shopping Park (pictured). British Land is the […]

05 Feb 2014

Hg Capital : HGT – IPO of Manx Telecom

Manx Telecom is to IPO on the AIM market (completion of the listing is expected to be on 10 February 2014).  Manx’s shares have been priced at 142p, valuing the business at £160m, and the IPO is fully underwritten at this price. Hg Capital is selling its entire shareholding in the IPO, realising cash proceeds of c£13.1m. […]

04 Feb 2014

Mid Wynd International : MWY – half year figures

Over the six months ended 31 December 2013 Mid Wynd returned almost twice as much as its benchmark as the net asset value total return was 12.5% and the FTSE World Index total return was 6.6%. The company says that it benefited as money moved from bond investments to equities during the period. Investments that […]

04 Feb 2014

Better Capital : BCAP – cautions on 2009 cell

Better Capital has released a trading statement today in which it cautions that trading conditions in two of the companies held in the 2009 cell have been “significantly below expectations”. Both are said to be profitable however. BCAP is warning that there could be a significant write down in the value of these companies at […]

03 Feb 2014

Target Healthcare REIT : THRL – buys Scottish care home

Target Healthcare REIT has bought a 61 bedroom purpose built care home in Glasgow for £4.3m. The home is let to Mossvale Care Home limited for 30 years at a rent equivalent to an initial yield of 7.75% and the rent is subject to an annual uplift in line with RPI (subject to a cap […]

03 Feb 2014

Masawara : MASA – sale of investment

Masawara, a fund specialising in investment in Zimbabwe, has sold its 51% stake in Masawara Energy Mauritius Limited for $29.325m ($4.437m more than when the deal was first announced in July 2013). The proceeds will be reinvested in new deals.

03 Feb 2014

Qannas Investments : QIL – acquisition and new domicile

Qannas is a small fund investing in private equity situations in the Gulf countries of the Middle East (pictured). It has agreed to a deal, technically a reverse takeover, whereby it will combine with two similar but unlisted limited partnership funds domiciled in Cayman and move its domicile from Jersey to Cayman. There is a […]

03 Feb 2014

International Public Partnerships : INPP – schools deals

INPP has made a number of deals to tidy up its portfolio of Building Schools for the Future investments – adding to its investment in Kent BSF at a cost of £7.2m (taking its interest to 58% with Kent County Council owning the balance) and selling its minority interests in Hul, Leeds, Newcastle, Rochdale, Sandwell […]

03 Feb 2014

Green REIT : GRN – press speculation

Green REIT has now made two announcements concerning press speculation about its involvement with the Central Park portfolio of commercial real estate being sold by NAMA (Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency, which ended up owning a wide range of assets after Ireland’s financial sector ran into trouble in the credit crunch). GRN has confirmed that […]

31 Jan 2014

Invesco Perpetual Select : IVPU – half year report

Over the six months to the end of November 2013 the UK equity share portfolio’s net asset value rose by 8.9% vs. 3.9% for the FTSE All-Share index (this portfolio is managed by Mark Barnett). The Global Equity Income portfolio NAV rose by 4.6% vs. 3.3% for the MSCI World Index. The Balanced Risk portfolio NAV […]

31 Jan 2014

Intu Properties : INTU – Westfield Derby and Merry Hill

Intu Properties has commented on press speculation that it is considering buying Westfield’s shopping centre in Derby and buying an interest in and getting the management contract for the Merry Hill shopping centre in Dudley. Intu says discussions are taking place and, if the acquisition happens, it will be funded, in part, by a new issue […]

31 Jan 2014

Cambium Global Timberland : TREE – half year figures

Between 30 April 2013 and 31 October 2013 Cambium Global Timberland’s net asset value per share fell from 59p to 48p. As previously announced (in October 2013) Cambium wrote down the value of its Tarrangower property in Australia and its properties in Hawaii. At the time they said they might have to make a provision […]

31 Jan 2014

Henderson Smaller Comapnies : HSL – half year report

Over the six months to end November 2013 HSL delivered a NAV return of 14.5% and a share price return of 14.7% – marginally outperforming the Numis Smaller companies Index which returned 14.4%.  

31 Jan 2014

Prospect Japan : PJF – change of investment policy

Prospect’s manager is keen that their investment remit be expanded, arguing that if they are allowed to take larger positions in companies and engage with them to encourage share buy-backs, asset sales and reconstructions, the fund will benefit. To that end the Board is proposing that the maximum investment in any one company be set […]

31 Jan 2014

Invista European Real Estate : IERE – Annual Report

IERE’s Annual Report as at 30 September 2013 shows a fall in NAV from €0.38 to €0.246. They have €100m of property on the block and are working on renegotiating their bank debt. Disposals and new lettings have reduced the vacancy rate on the portfolio from 24% to less than 20%. The debt was reduced […]

31 Jan 2014

Ecofin Power & Water Opps : ECWO – results

Over the year to the end of September 2013 the assets of the company rose by 6.8%. The total return to an ordinary shareholder was 13.0% and the NAV return 11.0%. The numbers were held back by a fall in the value of ECWO’s largest holding, Lonestar Resources, in part because of a fall in […]

30 Jan 2014

Japan Residential Property ; JRIC – acquisition

Japan Residential Property has bought a 23 unit apartment building in the Toritsudai neighbourhood of Tokyo for Yen702m (£4.12m) equivalent to a 5.1% yield.

30 Jan 2014

Great Portland Estates : GPOR – q3 numbers

Great Portland Estates reports a 5.8% uplift in the portfolio valuation over the final quarter of 2013 driven by an 8.2% uplift in the valuation of development properties and rental growth of 1.3%. This helped drive an 8.2% uplift in the EPRA NAV to 527p. Vacancy rates across the portfolio have fallen as they signed […]

30 Jan 2014

Bilfinger Berger Global Infrastructure : BBGI – first US project

Bilfinger Berger infrastructure has bought a one third stake in the Ohio River Bridge / East End Crossing PPP project. the bridge, close to Louisville, Kentucky connects Clark County Indiana with Jefferson County, Kentucky  

30 Jan 2014

Ground Rents Income Fund : GRIO – Annual results

GRIO’s results cover the 17 month period between its incorporation on 23 April 2012 and 30 September 2013. It is not yet fully invested – it said it would be by end May 2014. At the end of September it was 51% invested and when the report was published that figure had risen to 60%. […]

30 Jan 2014

3i : III – Interim management statement

3i’s interim management statement covering Q4 2013 mentions £29m of realisation proceeds received – making £557m for the last nine months – 35% up on the previous year; £322m invested including four European Private Equity investments; completion of their acquisition of BIFM (an infrastructure business); and successfully closing their third US CLO. The NAV at […]

30 Jan 2014

Safestore Holdings : SAFE – Annual results

Over the year to the end of October 2013 Safestore had to contend with the impact of the imposition of VAT on UK self storage and this, they say, had a knock-on effect on revenues which fell by 2.7%. Earnings per share and EBITDA moved ahead however as borrowing costs fell, occupancy rates in France rose, and […]

30 Jan 2014

Riverstone Energy : RSE – Liberty Resources II update

Riverstone Energy has announced that Liberty Resources II, its largest holding, has bought a portfolio of oil & gas assets in North Dakota’s Williston Basin for $455m. Altogether the acquisition represents 53,000 acres and 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day production.    

30 Jan 2014

London Metric Property : LMP – acquisition

LMP has bought the Superdrug distribution centre in South Elmsall, Doncaster for £13m, equivalent to an initial yield of 7.3%. The 292,500 sq ft centre is located two miles from junction 38 of the A1(M) motorway and is fully let to Superdrug until 2025 with a break clause in 2020.