Update: HydrogenOne Capital Growth (HGEN) is to wind down and return what is left of shareholders’ money in the green energy fund after four difficult years. The company, whose shares have lost three quarters of their value since 2021 and languish 70% below net asset value, has appointed Redwheel, the trading name of RWC Asset […]
Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) has unveiled its strategic review, announcing plans to sell 8% of assets to upgrade the remaining portfolio and increase revenues as it looks to win back shareholders after last week’s dividend cut and head off a challenge to its board. The £314m battery fund said it would seek buyers or […]
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income co-manager Tim Woodhouse steps down and Greencoat UK Wind reports a 4.4% fall in the portfolio and sells £181m of assets. JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI) co-manager Tim Woodhouse is stepping down to take a new job at JPMorgan Asset Management, leaving Helge Skibeli and James Cook in charge […]
Update: Share price performance figures and yields in this article have been corrected and updated to 31 July. Apax Partners’ cash bid for Apax Global Alpha may not be the catalyst for an immediate, sector-wide narrowing of listed private equity fund, say fund managers, but be in no doubt, ultra-wide share price discounts of 30%-40% […]
Gresham House Energy Storage (GRID) has announced a third long-term floor pricing agreement with EDF Energy to underpin the battery fund’s revenues and secure refinancing for its three-year recovery plan. The 10-year contract with EDF Energy is at the same floor level in £/MW terms as the deals announced with Statkraft Markets and Markel Bermuda […]
Positive property news with results from Unite and Shaftesbury Capital and an office disposal by Derwent London, while Schroder British Opportunities details its plan to focus on private equity. Shaftesbury Capital (SHC), the real estate investment trust focused on London’s West End, has entered the second half of the year with “strong momentum” after a […]
Former Ruffer Investment Companies (RICA) fund manager Duncan MacInnes is joining Aberforth Partners, the Edinburgh-based UK smaller companies specialist. In doing so he has added his voice to those calling out a turning point in the depressed sector’s fortunes. MacInnes left Ruffer in February, a month after its flagship RICA investment company formally reported a […]
The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has accused the government of a contradictory approach to the UK’s £262bn listed closed-end funds sector after excluding its members from the Pension Schemes Bill. The new bill will empower the government to force pension schemes to invest some of their portfolios in private assets, but as currently drafted […]
Life Science REIT (LABS) has received “significant amount of interest” from potential buyers but warned its real estate portfolio fell by nearly 11% in the first half. The “Golden Triangle” property investor put itself up for sale in March as part of a strategic review launched in response to the wide discount the shares have […]
Aquila European Renewables slides 12% as preferred bidder cuts the value of its bid and board pauses sales process, and CVC Income and Growth changes the master fund it feeds into. Aquila European Renewables (AERI) shares slide 12% to 54 euro cents as its board “pauses” the sale of the company after its preferred bidder […]
Literacy Capital (BOOK), the UK-focused, smaller company private equity fund, has cut its stake in its second largest investment, Velociti Solutions, a transaction that enables a £6m return of capital to shareholders and, equally important, validates the valuation of a portfolio stuck on a double-digit discount. Literacy, named after the reading charity it supports, said […]
Update: Winterflood, the investment company broker and market maker, has been sold to Marex, a US Nasdaq-listed commodoties trading platform, for £103.9m cash. Although not well known in the UK, market observers had spotted Marex’s potential interest in the inevestment trust sector, given Angelo Sofocleous, a former Cantor Fitgerald boss, has worked for the company […]
This month, the government dismissed the idea of zonal pricing for UK energy. This would have seen areas with high energy generation and low demand, such as Scotland, pay lower bills than elsewhere in the country. Ultimately, it was deemed too complicated and disruptive. However, it removes a possible solution to the biggest conundrum of […]
Law Debenture (LWDB) smashed the UK stock market rally in the first half of the year with its investments and professional services businesses both firing on most cylinders. Interim results today showed the £1.3bn UK equity income trust made a 15% underlying return in the six months to 30 June, beating the 9.1% advance in […]
GCP Infrastructure reduces its debts with the settlement of an audit dispute and International Public Partnerships declares its first ever quarterly dividend. GCP Infrastructure (GCP) has settled a contractual dispute relating to the audits of the accreditation of a solar portfolio under the renewables obligation certification regime. Terms are confidential but the £667m company will […]
Investors holding more than two thirds of Schroders Capital Global Innovation applied to sell their shares in this month’s tender offer. The £37m tender offer of Schroders Capital Global Innovation (INOV) was oversubscribed by more than three times as investors leaped at the chance to exit the former Woodford Patient Capital Trust at asset value. […]
Update: Third Point Investors reverses yesterday’s gains as shareholders owning 14% of the hedge fund, including Asset Value Investors and Evelyn Partners, join forces to oppose its transformation plan. Angry investors holding 14% of Third Point Investors (TPOU) have formed an action group to oppose the hedge fund’s controversial plan to transform itself into a […]
Peter Spiller, lead manager of Capital Gearing Trust (CGT), has warned of the increasing risk of a gilt market crisis to force the UK government to curb spending. Labour’s recent failure to pass proposed cuts in personal independence benefit payments is a blow to the prime minister and chancellor’s plan to free up investment spending […]
Caledonia Investments confirms its 10-for-one share split will take place tomorrow and Cordiant Digital Infrastructure shares part of its Datacenter investment with a sister fund. Plus updates from AEW UK REIT, Onward Opportunities and GCP Asset Backed Income. Caledonia Investments (CLDN) confirms its 10-for-one share split will take place tomorrow. Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD) confirms […]
Brunner (BUT) fund managers have apologised after UnitedHealth, the US insurer that was their second biggest holding eight months ago, crashed on fears of a Trump clampdown on the business. Shares in UnitedHealth (UNH.O) have plunged 43% this year, prompting Julian Bishop and Christian Schneider of Allianz Global Investors to dump what had been a […]
Global technology trust saw costs surge in the first half of the year as a result of the attempt to seize control of its board by activist hedge fund Saba Capital. Herald (HRI) investment trust spent nearly £750,000 defending itself against the attempted takeover by Saba Capital earlier this year, interim results show. Administrative expenses […]
CT Global Managed Portfolio cuts its management fee to boost marketing ahead of the retirement of fund manager Peter Hewitt, and activists raise their stakes in Schroder British Opportunities and Gore Street Energy Storage. CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust, which has separate growth (CMPG) and income (CMPI) portfolios, has negotiated a £135,000 cut in its […]
INPP, a £2.3bn London-listed infrastructure fund, promises good risk-adjusted returns for shareholders from its co-investment with the UK government in the nuclear plant construction project in Suffolk. The ability of London-listed investment companies to back projects of national importance was underlined today when International Public Partnerships (INPP) announced a £250m investment in Sizewell C, a […]
ICG Enterprise nets £22m from the sale of VR software provider Datasite and European Smaller Companies, International Biotechnology, Mobius and Vietnam Holding all report good gains for June. ICG Enterprise Trust (ICGT) has sold its co-investment in Datasite, a software provider focused on virtual data rooms that at 31 January was its fourth largest company exposure […]
Update with QuotedData comment: Apax Global Alpha (APAX) leaps to a 28-month high after its fund manager offers shareholders a 19% premium to last Friday’s share price to end the company’s ten-year stint on the stock exchange. Shares in Apax Global Alpha (APAX) have shot up 17% after the private equity fund abandoned hope of […]
Seraphim Space (SSIT) shares jumped 6% today after the Financial Times reported the Polish government was in talks to invest in ICEYE, the investment trust’s biggest holding, at a valuation “significantly higher” than $1bn (£740m). The Finnish company, which accounted for just over a quarter, or 25.5%, of Seraphim’s £239m portfolio at 31 March, has […]
Update: The embattled board of Maven Renovar VCT (MRV) has hit back at former fund manager Paul Jourdan’s “conflicted” bid to gain control of the £89m venture capital trust that controversially sacked him and his employer, Amati, last year. Publishing a circular for the shareholder meeting requisitioned by Jourdan who is seeking to be elected a […]
PRS REIT (PRSR), the £588m provider and developer of affordable family rental homes, remains in discussions with its sole potential bidder Long Harbour but has issued a “very strong” trading statement in the hope of attracting further approaches. The company, where activists Robert Naylor and Christopher Mills joined the board last October, said today it […]
Assura, the GP surgeries landlord being bought by Primary Health Properties (PHP), publishes annual results and Utilico Emerging Markets celebrates 20 years as a global infrastructure fund. Assura (AGR), the GP surgeries landlord that agreed to a £1.8bn bid from rival Primary Health Properties (PHP) last month, has published annual results showing a 9% investment […]
Stifel is recommending investors take some profits on their investment company positions after an impressive rebound from the panic over US tariffs in early April. The broker said 42 investment companies had risen more than 25% in the wake of President Trump’s sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on “Liberation Day”, which saw markets fall but then recover as the […]
