CG Asset Management has increased its stakes in Mobius (MMIT ) and BlackRock Energy & Resources Income (BERI ) on account of their ‘interesting portfolios’ and discounted shares.

The firm founded by Peter Spiller, which counts Capital Gearing Trust (CGT ) as its flagship mandate, lifted its stake in growth-focused emerging markets trust Mobius to 5.1% and upped its BlackRock position to 5%, stock exchange filings from last week show.

Spiller and co-chief investment officer Chris Clothier hold Mobius in three funds, including the £981m Capital Gearing, where it now makes up 2.4% of assets, making it a top-10 position in its multi-asset portfolio of equities, trusts and bonds. CGAM’s overall position makes it the third-largest shareholder, Refinitiv data shows. 

Mobius, a £172m trust founded by Mark Mobius but now run by co-founder Carlos Hardenberg, invests in small and mid-cap growth stocks, with a focus on technology. The trust avoids China given concerns over governance and transparency.

Performance has been knocked recently, but it has retained a good track record since launch in October 2018, with Morningstar data showing shareholder returns of 42% versus the MSCI EM Mid index gain of 41%.

The share price discount has narrowed from a low of 12% a year ago to 7%, despite the board’s reluctance to use buybacks. Activist Spiller may push for them given his recent comments that all discounts are ‘voluntary’ and can be addressed. 

Alongside CGAM on the shareholder register is bargain hunter City of London Investment Management which disclosed that it lifted its stake in Mobius from 7.7% to 11.3% last week, making it the largest shareholder. 1607 Capital Partners, a US value investor in trusts, holds 5%.

Capital Gearing Trust has small positions in a handful of other listed emerging markets funds, including Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEML ), Templeton Emerging Markets (TEM ) and JPMorgan Emerging Markets (JMG ), as well as single country fund Weiss Korea Opportunity (WKOF ).

The BlackRock Energy & Resources Income trust’s £160m portfolio is roughly split into three across miners, traditional energy stocks and energy transition companies, underpinning a 3.8% dividend yield.

CGAM holds the trust in two funds, including CGT, where it now makes up 3.9% of assets. The shares have gained 107% over the last five years, but currently sit on a 10% discount, according to Deutsche Numis data.

The increase makes CGAM the largest shareholder, followed by 1607 with a 4.5% position.

‘The CGAM stance is that we believe they both have interesting portfolios and are trading on discounts. We haven’t got much else to report,’ the firm told Citywire.

Capital Gearing, which tries to preserve and grow shareholders’ wealth, has increased net asset value by 2.2% in the year to date, while the shares have risen 3.5%.

At the end of August, 32% of the portfolio was held in investment companies and equities, 37% in inflation-linked government bonds, 19% in conventional government bonds and 8% in corporate credit.

Annual results in May showed exposure to infrastructure was increased from 6% to 8% to take advantage of the wide double-digit discounts of shares in the sector. such as International Public Partnerships (INNP ) and Bluefield Solar Income (BSIF ).

Spiller has pushed for improved governance on several occasions this year, including against the board of Smithson (SSON ) after it initially decided not to hold a continuation vote triggered by the average discount widening beyond 10%, as well as the management contract extension at PRS Reit (PRS ) last month. He also blasted BH Macro’s (BHMG ) board for its ‘token’ share buybacks.