BlackRock has moved around €13bn of European-listed ETFs from optimised sampling to full physical replication, as the growing weight of major semiconductor and technology companies tests regulatory concentration limits. Optimised sampling allows an ETF to track an index without holding every constituent. This can reduce trading costs and operational complexity, particularly when an index contains […]
SEGRO has rejected a further revised takeover proposal from Prologis, arguing that the terms fail to reflect the quality of its portfolio, the scarcity of its platform and the value of its long-term growth prospects. The latest proposal, received on 17 July 2026, would offer SEGRO shareholders 0.0890 new Prologis shares for each SEGRO share. […]
Alternative Income REIT (AIRE) has urged shareholders to reject Glenstone REIT’s cash offer, arguing that it materially undervalues the company and could leave minority investors trapped in an illiquid, unlisted vehicle. Glenstone has offered 71.4p per AIRE share, but AIRE’s board says the headline figure overstates the value being offered. Should AIRE declare a fourth […]
Brunner Investment Trust (BUT) generated a net asset value (NAV) total return of 5.6% over the six months to 31 May 2026, compared with 12.0% from its 70% FTSE World ex UK/30% FTSE All-Share benchmark. A modest narrowing of the discount lifted the share price total return to 8.1%. The managers attributed the relative shortfall […]
The newly appointed board of Impax Environmental Markets (IEM), elected following Saba Capital’s successful campaign to replace the trust’s previous directors in June, has moved swiftly to terminate the trust’s investment management agreement with Impax Asset Management. The current manager has a contractual 12-month notice period, but the board has asked Impax Asset Management to […]
Prologis has raised its takeover proposal for SEGRO (SGRO), introducing a £2.7bn partial cash alternative as part of a third proposal that values the UK warehouse landlord at around £13.5bn. The US logistics property group’s latest proposal, submitted on 16 July and rejected by SEGRO’s board the following day, offers shareholders 0.0890 new Prologis shares […]
The board of Alternative Income REIT (AIRE) says it is assessing the terms of AEW UK REIT’s (AEWU) possible offer for the company, which was made last week and valued the company at 77.4p. This represented a premium of around 10.6% to the 70.0p offer made by its largest shareholder Glenstone. AIRE’s board says that […]
As SpaceX falls below its IPO price, we ask: Are this year’s mega-cap IPOs worth chasing? 2026 promises to see a reshaping of the US market as a wave of megacap IPOs raise capital. Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched on the Nasdaq in June, while Anthropic and ChatGPT may also come to market in the second […]
Worldwide Healthcare (WWH) made an 89% return from a basket of biotechnology takeover targets in the 15 months to 30 June as mergers and acquisitions accelerated in the sector’s rebound from a three-year bear market. Fund manager Sven Borho told shareholders at WWH’s annual general meeting in London this week that the impressive gain from […]
Biotech Growth (BIOG) has notched up its eighth M&A (mergers and acquisitions) success this year with US pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly snapping up psychedelic drugs company AtaiBeckley for $2.8bn, or $6.75 a share. Shares in Nasdaq-listed AtaiBeckley, a 1.1% holding for BIOG, surged 33%, or $1.79, to $7.15 above the offer price as the market […]
Biotech Growth (BIOG) saw a big vote against the re-election of Orbimed fund manager Geoff Hsu to the board at the annual general meeting in London yesterday. Although the co-manager, who runs its £330m portfolio with Josh Golomb, was re-appointed he received the support of 63.1%, or nearly 2.9m, of votes with 36.9%, almost 1.7m, […]
European thematic ETFs are attracting money again after two difficult years, with semiconductor funds overtaking defence strategies as investors increasingly target the infrastructure required to support artificial intelligence. Thematic ETFs attracted $13.31bn of net inflows in Europe during the first half of 2026, according to ETFbook data included in HANetf’s latest review of the European […]
A bid battle for Alternative Income REIT (AIRE) has broken out with AEW UK REIT (AEWU) returning to the fray with a possible higher all-share offer. AEWU, a top-performing £169m UK real estate investment trust, said it was “considering” offering 0.725 of its shares for each AIRE share, priced at a 6% discount to AIRE’s […]
Workspace (WKP) non-executive director David Stevenson looks vulnerable ahead of the real estate investment trust’s (REIT) annual general meeting on 23 July after proxy adviser Glass Lewis this week joined rival ISS in recommending shareholders vote against the investment columnist and publisher’s re-election to its board. The entire WKP board is under threat as activist […]
Supermarket Income REIT (SUPR) has raised the £100m it was seeking in yesterday’s placing and retail offer. It will issue 120.5m shares at 83p, which, as the price is below the 87.5p per share of net asset value at 31 December, requires the approval of shareholders at a general meeting on 3 August. If this […]
HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) has passed its first continuation vote with over 98% support of shareholder votes. Results from the annual general meeting held in Guernsey on Wednesday afternoon show the special resolution on HVPE’s continuation was backed by over 32.9m shares, 98.2% of the total that were voted. Turnout was 48%. Over 590,000 […]
The Association of Investment Companies has called on incoming prime minister Andy Burnham to help “save our stock market” by abolishing stamp duty and reversing last year’s reduction of tax relief on venture capital trusts (VCTs). Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, is poised to replace Sir Kier Starmer as leader of the Labour […]
Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) shares fell today after the investment trust’s new board unveiled a larger than expected fall in the battery portfolio after updating revenue forecasts. Net asset value (NAV) slid 14.8%, or 13p, to 74.9p per share in the fourth quarter of the company’s financial year, taking the total decline for the […]
NextEnergy Solar (NESF), a high-yielding renewables fund languishing on a 39% share price discount, has put itself up for sale and complained of the short-term horizons of some investors. The £268m investment company this morning invited bids from “bona fide parties”, saying that despite “the performance of its underlying portfolio of assets, NESF continues to […]
Supermarket Income REIT (SUPR) has launched a £100m share issue to fund the purchase of three supermarkets in Manchester, Edinburgh and Halifax for £118m and a further pipeline of six assets for £98m. The fund raise will comprise of a placing to professional investors and an offer to private investors through Retail Book. Chief executive […]
BlackRock plans to launch Europe’s first active defence ETF to take advantage of arms manufacturers’ booming order books driven by a surge in government spending. The world’s largest asset manager, with $15.4trn under management, has filed an intention to launch the Dublin-based exchange-traded fund with the Central Bank of Ireland. The iShares Global Defence & […]
First Trust is preparing to bring one of its largest actively managed US ETFs to Europe, with plans to launch a UCITS version of its $2.4bn First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF. First Trust launched the US-listed First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF, known by its ticker FTLS, in 2014. Its growth to around $2.4bn in assets […]
MIGO Opportunities’ (MIGO) relaunch as a higher conviction portfolio after the appointment of AVI’s Tom Treanor last year has paid off with the £69m investment company bargain hunter achieving a 20.6% return in the 12 months to 30 April. The investment trust, which invests in other London-listed funds when their shares are cheap, provided a […]
Schroder British Opportunities (SBO), the £55m growth capital fund facing a wind-down vote early next year, saw the value of its investments fall 3% in the 12 months to 31 March as the technology weighted portfolio was hit by fears of artificial intelligence (AI) disruption. Chair Justin Ward said the unquoted companies that accounted for […]
Scottish Mortgage Trust (SMT) says SpaceX (SPCX) accounted for over a quarter (25.7%) of its £18.7bn portfolio at 30 June, up from 21% before its record flotation on 12 June and up from 8.2% in November. The disclosure in the latest factsheet of the Baillie Gifford flagship came yesterday as SpaceX shares fell to $139, […]
Defiance ETFs has launched Europe’s first photonics ETF, offering investors targeted exposure to the optical technologies used to move rapidly growing volumes of data around AI systems and data centres. The Defiance Photonics UCITS ETF (PHOT) invests in companies developing, manufacturing and commercialising technologies that generate, transmit and process information using light rather than electricity. […]
Aquila European Renewables (AERI) chair Robert Naylor has added to his growing list of grievances against Aquila Capital after the investment company had to stump up €700,000 (£597,000) to bail out a wind power project in Finland and accused the site’s technical manager of missing out on valuable government support. Naylor said this was the […]
Schroder European Real Estate (SERE), the £85m commercial property investment trust drawing up plans for a managed wind-down, saw its portfolio fall 3.9% in the three months to 30 June. Weaker investment demand for secondary offices and heightened economic uncertainty alongside concerns over rising inflation and interest rates knocked €7.5m off the valuation, the real […]
Great Portland Estates (GPE) says development director Andrew White will leave the central London real estate investment trust after 13 years. Chief executive Toby Courtauld said White had played a leading role in many of the company’s most successful developments. His role will not be replaced with executive director Dan Nicolson retaining board level responsibility […]
Last week, I attended Troy Asset Management’s annual investment trust seminar. The event clearly has a loyal following, with many investors returning year after year, and the presentations offered some interesting perspectives. As space was limited, I thought I would share some of the key points for those unable to attend. Long-term capital preservation For […]
