HgCapital to co-invest in Anthropic and Hg joint venture to help European businesses make money from AI
Hg, the manager of HgCapital (HGT), the software-focused private equity fund hit by the “SaaSpocalypse” in February, has set up an AI transformation business with Anthropic as it strives to ensure its companies end up as winners from artificial intelligence. Extending collaboration they began in early 2024, Hg and the AI lab have agreed to […]
BlackRock Greater Europe hikes dividends and offers 25% exit amid green shoots of recovery under its new manager
BlackRock Greater Europe (BRGE) is to ramp up dividends, change its name and cut costs as the £488m investment trust strives to pull out of a five-year slump with the help of Benjamin Moore, the lead fund manager appointed earlier this year. The company will also offer a 25% exit in five years’ time with investors able […]
Morning briefing: Supermarket Income launches £50m share issue; inflation-linked rents lift Target Healthcare
Supermarket Income (SUPR) has launched its second share offer of this year, aiming to raise £50m from a placing to institutions and an offer to retail investors. The £1.1bn company, which owns a £2.2bn portfolio of 140 stores in the UK and France, has six transactions involving 12 assets in its sights. These will cost […]
Morning briefing: Suspended GR1T to sell all its African properties; Primary Health Properties expands USS joint venture; Pantheon International buybacks leap to £161m since June; ex-Eastspring boss Bill Maldonado joins Merchants; HgCapital backs renewable software firm 3E
Grit Real Estate Income Group (GR1T), the pan-African property fund whose shares have been suspended since April, is considering delisting after disclosing two offers to sell all its real estate assets. The £32m company, which floated in 2018, said it had accepted a conditional binding offer for the disposal of its interests in GREA and […]
Mercantile – Tomorrow’s UK market leaders
Tomorrow’s UK market leaders The Mercantile Investment Trust (MRC) offers an actively managed portfolio of UK-listed medium-sized and smaller companies that its investment manager believes could become market leaders. Skilled, well-resourced managers can add value in this market, as MRC’s long-term record demonstrates. Its end-August factsheet shows average annual outperformance of 2.66% against its benchmark […]
Beyond Memory: AVI’s Korea Opportunity
Executive Summary The KOSPI has achieved a remarkable re-rating in 2026, reaching a new all-time high above 8,000 and returning +29% in May alone. Yet beneath the headline figures lies a tale of two markets. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix now account for c. 53% of the KOSPI index and have driven the overwhelming bulk […]
Morning briefing: Great Portland to redevelop Soho Square; SEGRO looks strong ahead of Prologis takeover; M&G Credit Income share issue raises £1.5m
Great Portland Estates (GPE) plans to redevelop its Soho Square Estate. The 90,000 sq ft development will include 75,000 sq ft of high-quality Grade A offices and 15,000 sq ft of prime retail space fronting Oxford Street. Demolition is expected to commence shortly, with completion targeted for summer 2030. Piers Blewitt, GPE’s director of development […]
Shh! Silence Therapeutics is International Biotechnology’s ninth portfolio bid this year after Merck splashes $1.3bn
Silence Therapeutics, one of the few UK-based holdings of International Biotechnology Trust (IBT), has been acquired by German drugs giant Merck for $1.3bn cash. News of the agreed deal yesterday saw Silence’s US Nasdaq-listed shares soar 125%, or $10.90, to $19.58, just below the $20 shareholders will receive when the deal closes early next year. […]
AVI Japan Opportunity lines up third 100% tender offer
AVI Japan Opportunity Trust (AJOT) has launched its third uncapped annual tender offer, giving shareholders a chance to sell all their shares at a 2% discount to the value of its investments if they wish. Given the shares currently stand around 2% below net asset value (NAV), there is likely to be limited demand for […]
Morning briefing: Weinstein and Pavry join SDCL board; Octopus AIM VCTs in merger talks; diesel crisis hurts miners, says City Natural Resources; MGCI prices share issue; Lindsell Train correction
Saba Capital’s Boaz Weinstein and former Devon Equity Management chief executive Richard Pavry have joined the board of SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT). At a general meeting last Thursday Weinstein and Pavry were appointed as non-executive directors with just over 84% of votes on a 42.5% turnout. The £374m investment trust was put into managed […]
Eight funds, two awards: meet the ETF contenders vying for your vote
The QuotedData Investors’ Choice Awards are back, with voting now well under way (cast your votes here). We have already explained how the awards work (see my colleague Matthew Read’s article here) and why we believe private investors should have the final say. This year, for the first time, we have added two new Exchange […]
Schroder Oriental Income – more than just a pretty yield?
Schroder Oriental Income Fund (SOI) has been shortlisted in the Best country / regional / emerging category of QuotedData’s 2026 Investors’ Choice Awards. With voting now underway, we take a closer look at what makes this Asian equity income trust stand out and why it might deserve your vote. Asia is home to some of […]
Seraphim Space finished “landmark” year with 39.7% fourth quarter gain to more than double net asset value
Updated with comments from fund manager Mark Boggett. Seraphim Space (SSIT) has declared 2025/26 a “watershed” year after the portfolio of mostly private space technology companies more than doubled with a 39.7% gain in the fourth quarter rounding off an exceptional 12 months. Annual results show net asset value (NAV) per share increased by 102.9% […]
Morning briefing: Gore Street Energy signs two-year tolling agreement on Texas assets; Seraphim Space invests £17.5m in Skylo Technologies; Patria Private Equity returns 2.6% in quiet third quarter for exits
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (GSF), the £247m battery fund that last month survived a wind-down vote proposed by activist Saba Capital, has announced a two-year tolling agreement on its three Texas projects with Canada’s MAG Energy Solutions (MAG). From 19 October, MAG will manage the bidding, scheduling and dispatch of GFS’ Snyder, Sweetwater, and […]
Seraphim Space says fund raise by satellite operator Xona adds £52m to its valuation
Seraphim Space (SSIT) says Xona Space Systems has jumped to become its second biggest investment after a fund raising earlier this year added £52.2m to the valuation of the Californian company developing a constellation of low-orbit satellites. Seraphim invested $15m (£11.3m) from the £137m it raised in a C-share issue in May as part of […]
Q&A: How should investors vote in the Baillie Gifford US Growth AGM to prevent Saba Capital taking control?
Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA) is urging its 13,000 private investors to vote as soon as they can to protect the investment trust from being taken over by its largest shareholder, Saba Capital. The £1bn investment company faces its third “existential” challenge from the hostile hedge fund. The US firm owns nearly 30% of the […]
Seraphim Space Investment Trust – Strong NAV growth, more winners emerging
Strong NAV growth, more winners emerging Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) has continued to make strong portfolio progress. ICEYE’s latest funding round confirmed a substantial rise in its valuation, HawkEye 360 has listed, and York Space Systems has acquired ALL.SPACE. SSIT’s £137m C share issue provides capital for existing holdings and new opportunities, while Seraphim’s […]
Land Securities buys Metrocentre in Newcastle for £516m
Land Securities (LAND) has launched a £500m share issue to pay for the £516m acquisition of Metrocentre in Newcastle and a £100m consolidation of its retail portfolio. The £4.7bn real estate investment trust is raising the money in a placing to institutional investors and offer to retail investors. The price of the new shares will […]
Schiehallion’s Baillie Gifford managers wary of “elevated” AI valuations as they look to reposition after SpaceX and Bending Spoon successes
The flotations of SpaceX and Bending Spoons, the Italian digital retailing platform, powered Schiehallion (MNTN) to a 29.1% investment return in the six months to 31 July. Half-year results show Bending Spoons’ $18.5bn splash provided an even bigger boost for the Baillie Gifford growth capital fund than SpaceX’s record $1.7trn IPO. From January when it […]
Manchester and London slumped 25% in AI carnage caused by near collapse of Situational Awareness hedge fund
Annual results from technology fund Manchester and London (MNL) highlight the dangers of going all-in on artificial intelligence with the portfolio plunging 25% at the end of its financial year to 31 July. At 22 June MNL had notched up a 51% investment return but saw this almost evaporate as the near collapse of the […]
AI boom drives 65% return for Pacific Horizon
Pacific Horizon Investment Trust (PHI) delivered a 65.1% total investment return in the year to 31 July 2026, almost 30 percentage points ahead of its benchmark, as its exposure to Asian semiconductor and artificial intelligence companies paid off. The performance represented a dramatic turnaround from the previous financial year, when PHI’s underlying net asset value […]
Target Healthcare delivers best annual return since IPO
Target Healthcare REIT (THRL) has delivered its best annual financial performance since launching in 2013, helped by inflation-linked rental growth, rising property values and profitable asset sales. The specialist care home investor generated a total accounting return of 12.0% in the year to 30 June 2026, up from 9.3% last year. EPRA net tangible assets […]
Syncona’s Beacon Therapeutics delivers positive pivotal trial result
Syncona (SYNC) has announced a major clinical milestone at portfolio company Beacon Therapeutics after its gene therapy, laru-zova, delivered a positive topline result in the pivotal Phase II/III VISTA trial for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP). The trial met its FDA-endorsed primary endpoint, with laru-zova demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in low luminance visual acuity compared […]
Is AI coming for the City?
AI has already disrupted software, could the asset management sector be next? Would you let artificial intelligence manage your life savings? I tuned into the Polar Capital Global Technology team’s webinar yesterday; it was a fascinating watch as usual. As you can see below, the Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) retains its top spot over […]
Morning briefing: Zipline doubles to boost Scottish Mortgage and US Growth; Foresight Environmental wins third continuation vote; M&G Credit Income launches share issue; two big bids lift Merchants Trust; North American Income keeps pace with US market
Scottish Mortgage (SMT) and Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA) have registered a 120% uplift in their holdings in Zipline, the US drone delivery company that, as we reported yesterday, is in the midst of a $1bn fund raise that will more than double its valuation to $20bn from $7.6bn at its last funding round just […]
Schroder Asian Total Return warns China’s cheap AI firms are “wake-up call” for lofty OpenAI and Anthropic valuations
Schroder Asian Total Return (ATR) fund managers have sounded the alarm over a potential bubble in Korean and Taiwanese technology stocks as well as the US artificial intelligence developers they supply, amid renewed signs that the immense capital spending on AI may be waning. Half-year results showed the £638m investment trust benefited from the boom […]
RTW Biotech makes 16.5% half-year return as surge in listed drug developers outweighs write-down of Ensoma
An 86% write-down in the valuation of drug developer Ensoma cast a shadow on an otherwise bright set of half-year results from RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW). RTW said Ensoma, a Boston-based rare disease specialist, was the biggest detractor to its performance in the first half of the year. The reduction of what had been a […]
Public access to private businesses
After SpaceX exploded onto the public markets earlier this year, it paved the way for other blockbuster IPOs. Anthropic looks likely to be next, coming to market with a valuation of over $1 trillion. Stripe, Databricks, OpenAI and others are all waiting in the wings. For the investment trusts that have backed them, it is […]
Aquila European Renewables problems multiply as row rumbles on
Aquila European Renewables (AERI) says its end June NAV was €0.386, down from €0.567 at the end of December 2025. €0.1439 of that fall relates to the capital return to shareholders that was made earlier this year. There is no dividend for Q2 2026, partly because of problems getting cash out of AERI’s subsidiaries (see […]
Trust Spot: Dollar “debasement” fuels 20%-34% gains in top mining funds; SpaceX rebound lifts Baillie Gifford trusts
August was a glittering month for mining investment companies as geopolitical turmoil and concerns about the “debasement” of the US dollar saw gold rally 10% while industrial metals continued to enjoy booming demand from the worldwide rollout of artificial intelligence and the transition to clean energy. As a result, four of the five biggest investment […]
