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 […]
UK government backing for Tungsten West helps Baker Steel Resources advance by 17% in August
The UK National Wealth Fund’s decision to back Devon miner Tungsten West last month helped lift the net asset value of Baker Steel Resources Trust (BSRT) by over 17%, consolidating its position at the top of the buoyant AIC Commodities and Natural Resources sector. Tungsten West (TUN), a £646m tin and tungsten miner that is BSRT’s top […]
Morning briefing: CT Healthcare’s second tender offer undersubscribed; Seraphim flags LandSpace rocket success; HgCapital’s Nick Latner joins Literacy Capital; Schroder Income appoints David Ballance; LondonMetric bids for pension assets; industrials buoy Custodian
CT Healthcare (CTHT), the former Bellevue Healthcare trust, saw reduced uptake for its second quarterly 15% tender offer since Columbia Threadneedle’s Kosta Kleyman began running the portfolio on 5 March. The £62.5m company, the smallest in its sector, said 8.4% of its shares were put up for sale last month and will be bought back […]
Seraphim unveils New Space index for its ETF to track
Seraphim New Space UCITS ETF is launched in Europe today, listing on the London Stock Exchange under a dollar share class of SPCE and a sterling share class of SERA. The SERA ticker will also be used on the Borsa Italiana in Milan, while on Zurich’s Xetra it will trade as S3RA. At the heart of […]
Seraphim to launch The New Space ETF tomorrow
Seraphim Space, the manager of Seraphim Space (SSIT) investment trust, will launch an exchange-traded fund tomorrow offering investors access to both public and private space technology companies. The index-tracking Seraphim New Space ETF will, according to The Times, have exposure to the “new cohort of recently listed New Space companies [which] are disrupting incumbent and […]
International Public Partnerships sells stake in London schools portfolio for £58m
International Public Partnerships (INPP), the £2.5bn infrastructure investment company, has sold stakes in nine UK private-public partnership (PPP) projects to InfraRed Capital Partners which will manage the assets on behalf of Dutch pension scheme ABP. Total proceeds from the disposal, involving 15 London comprehensives, special educational schools and further education colleges built as part of […]
Seraphim Space invests £22m in Bluetooth network founder Hubble
Seraphim Space (SSIT) has invested a further £22.2m ($30m) of its £137m C-share issue, adding Hubble Network, a US start-up building the first satellite-powered Bluetooth network, to its portfolio. Hubble is already backed by Seraphim’s fund manager through the Seraphim Space Venture Fund II (SSVII). James Bruegger, chief investment officer of Seraphim Space Manager, said […]
Shaires Holdings Limited – A listed gateway to private AI
A listed gateway to private AI Shaires Holdings Ltd (SHR) is seeking to provide public market investors with exposure to some of the world’s largest private technology businesses, particularly those at the forefront of AI. A large proportion of technology value creation now occurs before companies reach public markets, leaving traditional equity investors excluded from […]
Shaires Holdings launches retail offer for private AI venture
Shaires Holdings Ltd (SHR) has launched a retail offer, giving individual investors the opportunity to gain exposure to a portfolio of private technology companies, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence (AI). The AIM-listed investment company is making new ordinary shares available at $20.00 each through the Winterflood Retail Access Platform (WRAP). The offer is […]
Pacific Horizon: dragons and salamanders
Qian Zhang, investment specialist, Baillie Gifford. Many Asia portfolios own the same household names. Baillie Gifford’s Qian Zhang explains why patient investors may find compelling opportunities not only in Asia’s index ‘dragons’, but also in the quieter ‘salamanders’ others miss. As with any investment, your capital is at risk. Asia had a strong year in 2025, and we […]
Trust Spot: 3i Group and RIT Capital Partners rally as technology trusts beat a retreat in July
3i Group (III) extended its recovery from May lows with the £29bn private equity backer of Action, the European discount retailer, rallying just over 15% in July, following an 11.6% gain in June. RIT Capital Partners (RCP) benefited from a £300m tender offer that spurred shares in the Rothschild-backed global multi-asset fund 12% higher. Greencoat […]
RIT Capital Partners hails first half “momentum” as SpaceX “gain” rockets to £100m
RIT Capital Partners (RCP) continued to fire on all cylinders in the first half of the year, helped by an unrealised gain of £110m in the record $1.7trn SpaceX flotation. Interim results show the £3.2bn global multi-asset fund backed by the Rothschilds generated an underlying investment return of 9% in the six months to 30 […]
Morning briefing: Space startups raised $7.5bn in second quarter, says Seraphim; Schroder Real Estate edges up dividend cover
Seraphim Space (SSIT) says space start-ups raised approximately $7.5bn across 141 venture deals during the second quarter of 2026. Its research, which features in the investment trust’s latest newsletter, found that investment remained close to record levels, with SpaceX’s IPO helping to broaden investor interest. James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, said: […]
Seraphim Space ploughs £21m of C-share money into Pixxel and Zeno Power
Seraphim Space (SSIT) has invested over £21m of the £137m it raised in a C-share (SSIC) issue in May, ploughing more money into two companies it already holds in the portfolio: Pixxel, the Indian satellite constellation operator, has received a follow-on investment of $25m (£18.6m); and Zeno Power, the US nuclear battery technology provider, a […]
SEGRO accepts Prologis’ improved £14bn bid
SEGRO (SGRO) has accepted the improved £14bn bid from Prologis offering the warehouse developer’s shareholders 258p cash per share and 0.0690 new Prologis shares per share. That maintains the same 1,054.3p per share Prologis offered on 22 July. Our view Richard Williams, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “As expected, Prologis has firmed up its offer […]
Can a new marketing campaign help revive investment trusts?
It is all too well known that the investment trust sector faces significant headwinds. Therefore, getting a new generation of investors interested in trusts is clearly important. It is in this context that the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) is stepping up its efforts, this week announcing the appointment of the marketing and advertising agency […]
Saba requisitions Gore Street Energy Storage for AGM votes on the future of the battery fund
Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF), the £235m battery fund that shocked investors with a 27% fall in net asset value in its annual results this month, has received a requisition notice from activist hedge fund Saba Capital. In a short statement yesterday evening, GSF said Saba, which this week lifted its stake to 17%, had […]
Morning briefing: Hammerson lifts guidance after buying half of Manchester Arndale; Oakley Capital Investments says share price fall “unjustified”; Greencoat UK Wind cashes in on high power prices; “robust earnings” drive SAINTS; plus AGVI
Hammerson (HMSO), the £2bn UK real estate investment trust, has launched a £190m share issue to fund the £218m acquisition of a 50% stake in the Manchester Arndale shopping centre. The company is buying from Palma Arndale BidCo, which represents the investor consortium that bought the holding when its previous owner Intu collapsed in 2020. HMSO […]
Biotech Growth makes 14-times return on Forte Biosciences accepting $2.2bn bid from Argenx SE
Biotech Growth (BIOG) has bagged its second bid for a company in a month with Forte Biosciences, a US immunological drug developer accounting for 3% of its portfolio, agreeing to a $2.2bn cash offer from Argenx SE, a Belgian-Dutch pharmaceutical company. Argenx yesterday agreed to pay $77 a share, 40.5% more than Forte’s closing price […]
Morning briefing: Cordiant Digital says Hudson Interxchange “closer to breakeven”; Ex-Laxey activist Andrew Pegge steps down from CEIBA; GRIT in talks with Planet Scan; plus Pantheon International
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD) says its underperforming New York data centre, Hudson Interxchange, is “closer to breakeven” after signing a major new customer contract and receiving an expansion order from an existing customer. CORD bought 60 Hudson Street for £56m in January 2022 saying it was the “most interconnected facility in one of the most interconnected […]
Morning briefing: Tritax Big Box gains full approval for Manor Farm data centre; Chris Mills objects to terms of US private equity bid for Pinewood; Railpen abandons IP Group pursuit; Invesco Asia Dragon gets third manager; plus BSIF and EWI
Tritax Big Box REIT (BBOX) has achieved planning consent on its Manor Farm data centre development near Heathrow after a six-week judicial review brought by Slough Borough Council failed to overturn the approval granted by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government last month. Chief executive Colin Godfrey said a pre-let agreement for the 107MW […]
CVC Income & Growth raised £16.5m
CVC Income & Growth’s most recent fundraising exercise has raised £16.5m gross. It will reissue 13,7775,823 Sterling shares (CVCG) out of treasury at a price of £1.1979 and 1,279 Euro shares (CVCE) at a price of €1.0955. In each case the shares are being issued at a 0.65% premium to NAV. The placing element of […]
Are this year’s mega-cap IPOs worth chasing?
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 […]
Morning briefing: Supermarket Income raises £100m for acquisitions; Barratt Redrow launches £386m buybacks in response to Phoenix AM’s demand; Diverse Income’s liquidation added to Premier Miton’s “challenging” outflows
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 […]
