In QuotedData’s morning briefing 16 May 2024: Polar Capital Global Healthcare (PCGH) says that at end March 2024, its six-month NAV returns were seven percentage points better than its benchmark’s (16.55% versus 9.56% for MSCI ACWI/Healthcare Index). The manager says that this was driven by strong stock selection across the entire market capitalisation range and […]
The board of Henderson European Focus Trust (HEFT) has provided an update on its merger with Henderson Eurotrust (HNE). The merger was initially announced on 14 March, with the intended new trust being named Henderson European Trust. The boards of HNE and HEFT have now agreed on revised terms to the merger, with the updated […]
Tritax EuroBox has agreed a lease re-gear, a new lease and associated solar PV Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) at Logistics Park Bornem, Belgium. The re-gear and new lease are both eight-year, inflation-linked leases and have been signed, together with the PPA, with an existing customer, which is a leading global pharmaceutical and medtech company. The […]
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 15 May 2024: RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) portfolio company, Lycia Therapeutics, announced the completion of a $106.6m Series C financing round. The company, alongside other investment vehicles managed by RTW Investments LP, participated in the financing round with other life science investment firms. Gulf Investment Fund (GIF) announced that it has […]
Oakley Capital Investments Limited (OCI) has announced that Oakley Capital Origin II has agreed to acquire vitroconnect, a leading broadband open access platform business in Germany. This will be the first platform investment made by Origin II. OCI’s indirect contribution to Origin II is anticipated to be up to £19 million, which relates to OCI’s share of […]
BlackRock Smaller Companies (BRSC) announced its annual report for the 12 months to 29 February 2024. The company’s NAV total return was -3.6% while shares fell 0.8%, outperforming the benchmark Deutsche Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding Investment Companies) Index which was down 5.8% Commenting on the performance, investment manager Roland Arnold noted; “For the […]
Asian Energy Impact Trust (AEIT) announced its annual results for the 12 month period to December 2023. The company’s NAV total return was -3.6%, after falling 49.2% the previous year. Shares fell a total of 84% following a long period of suspended trading after issues with the release of the company’s annual report, being readmitted […]
Tritax EuroBox has exchanged contracts to sell its warehouse asset in Gothenburg, Sweden for a price of SEK 385m (€34m) to a pan-European real estate investment manager. The sale price is broadly in line with book value (at 30 September 2023) and is part of the company’s disposal programme aimed at reducing leverage. The 28,900 sqm […]
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 14 May 2024: abrdn Equity Income Trust (AEI) announced its interim results for the six months to 31 March 2024. During the period, the company delivered a NAV total return of 1.6% compared to the total return of the FTSE All-Share Index of 6.9%. The share price total return was -8.2%. […]
Unite Students (UTG) has sold six properties to PGIM Real Estate for £184m (UTG share: £76m), as it continues to focus on student accommodation close to highly ranked universities. The properties, comprising 2,948 beds, are located in Birmingham, Cardiff, Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Sheffield and have an average age of 18 years. 53% of UTG’s […]
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 13 May 2024: Atrato Onsite Energy (ROOF) has announced that it has made two solar investments, totalling £6.4m. It acquired a portfolio comprising 7.3MW of solar PV systems situated on two commercial sites in the UK which benefit from corporate offtake arrangements with fixed uplifts. Both are located on automotive manufacturing […]
It would be fair to say that, traditionally, utility companies have not been viewed as the most exciting investments on the planet, with the sector consisting mostly of publicly owned or heavily regulated suppliers of basic amenities like water, gas and power. Nevertheless, as funds such as Ecofin Global Utilities and Infrastructure (EGL) have demonstrated, […]
Thank you to everyone that listened in today, whether you watched the Zoom live or on YouTube. In this week’s show, James Carthew covered the week’s top stories: • Aquila European Renewables (0:12) • North American Income (4:51) • Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging / Asia Dragon (7:49) This week’s interview was with Richard Pindar from Literacy […]
North Atlantic Smaller Companies (NAS) has published its annual results for the year ended 31 January 2024, during which its NAV increased by 3%. Its chairman, Sir Charles Wake, points out that this “compares unfavourably with the Sterling adjusted Standard & Poors index but [is] a good outperformance of appropriate United Kingdom indices where the […]
Albane Poulin, Head of Private Credit, Gravis Capital Management Against a volatile and uncertain economic backdrop, investors are seeking investment funds that offer stability, consistent returns, and portfolio diversification. While interest rate cuts are expected in 2024, the current high inflationary environment and stronger labour market indicate that the path ahead is not as straightforward […]
NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) has extended its existing £70m short-term revolving credit facility (RCF) with Santander, that was previously due to expire in June 2024. The £70m RCF extension is now available until June 2025 and benefits from improved terms with a margin of 150bps over SONIA (Sterling Overnight Index Average) compared with 160bps over […]
Following the announcement on 22 December 2023 of an approach from Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT – click here to see our coverage of this) and then subsequently that its board was looking at possible combinations with other investment trusts, Aquila European Renewables (AERI) has said that, following consultation with its shareholders, it has received […]
Dan Nickols, head of Jupiter’s UK Small and Mid-Cap (SMID) equities team and current co-manager of Rights and Issues Investment Trust (RIII), is retiring at the end of June this year. Following Dan’s retirement, Matt Cable, currently Dan’s co-manager on the trust, will become its lead manager, thereby “ensuring continuity of the investment services provided […]
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 10 May 2024: Home REIT (HOME) has sold a further 76 properties at a public auction for a total of £14.6m (12.4% below the draft August 2023 valuation – which was already heavily marked down from the price the company bought them for). Since August 2023, the company has completed on the sale […]
In a surprise move, the board of The North American Income Trust says that it has agreed heads of terms to appoint Janus Henderson Fund Management UK Limited as its new AIFM and investment manager. This follows an extensive review of its existing management arrangements and engagement with a number of management groups. The board […]
ICG Longbow Senior Secured Property Debt has announced results for the 12 months ended 31 January 2024. The company is in the process of a managed wind down. During the year, the company returned £15.7m to shareholders, equating to 12.9p per share. This makes 44.9p or £54.46m since the wind down began. The company is […]
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 9 May 2024: Concord Bidco, the bidding vehicle for the Alchemy/Concord Chorus bid for Hipgnosis (SONG), says that its offer of $1.25 per Hipgnosis share is final and will not be increased. [QD comment: as we suspected, Concord was unable/unwilling to better Blackstone’s $1.30 bid, which at the current exchange rate […]
Land Securities has completed the sale of its entire hotel portfolio to real estate funds managed by Ares Management for £400m. This compares to a September 2023 book value of the assets of £404m. The disposal is in line with Landsec’s strategy to release capital from sectors in which the company does not have scale […]
3i Infrastructure (3IN) announced its annual results for the period ended 31 March 2024. The company delivered a 11.4% NAV total return for the year, and a total shareholder return of 8.1%, marginally behind that of the benchmark index which returned 8.7% in the same period. Since the IPO, the company’s annualised total shareholder return […]
HydrogenOne Capital Growth (HGEN) provided a Q1 2024 NAV and portfolio update. The company’s NAV per share grew 0.6% from 31 December 2023, and is up 3.6% since 31 March 2023. Notable developments for the quarter included: Continued revenue growth from private portfolio companies, delivering an aggregate £81 million in total revenue in the 12 […]
GCP Infrastructure has released an investor report for the three month period to March 31. The company’s NAV fell 2% due predominately to a change in the March 2024 OBR inflation forecast. Power price forecasts also had a negative impact. Post period end, on 26 April 2024, the company also noted that it has disposed […]
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 8 May 2023: International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) announced its results for the six month period ended 29 February 2024. The company saw a 11.2% NAV total return per share, substantially outperforming the Reference Index which rose by 8.2%. Notable contributions came from Vera Therapeutics, an autoimmune company which is a top […]
Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets (AWEM) has announced a proposed transaction with the Asia Dragon Trust (DGN). The proposal is supported in principle by a majority of DGN shareholders, with the company highlighting the opportunity for Asia Dragon shareholders to join an outperforming investment trust, with market-leading structural features, zero management fee and an annual redemption facility. […]
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 7 May 2023: An affiliate of the Apax IX Fund in which Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) is a limited partner, announced the sale of its controlling interest in Healthium MedTech Ltd, a leading Indian medical devices player. This transaction values the look-through investment in Healthium at approximately €22.7m. This represents […]
The Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) cautious stance on further interest rate cuts, as expressed in their statement about “a lack of further progress” on inflation, that was made on Wednesday, marked a shift in market expectations in recent weeks. At the start of 2024, investors had been optimistic about a strong year, anticipating a series of […]
