• Schroder BSC Social Impact (SBSI) has adopted the “Sustainability Impact” label and will continue to be considered an “impact fund” under the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and investment labelling regime.
• VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities has changed its name to VH Global Energy Infrastructure with effect from today, and its ticker will be changed to ‘ENRG’ (its ISIN and SEDOL will remain unchanged). The company says that the name change is being implemented to align with new regulatory requirements for fund names and that its sustainable investment objective-to “make an impact by supporting the attainment and pursuit of key SDGs, where energy and energy infrastructure investments directly contribute to accelerating the energy transition” remains unchanged. The company also says that it is adopting the ‘Sustainability Impact’ label under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR). It adds that its board and manager have confirmed that there is no change to its investment process.
• TR Property (TRY) has released its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2024, during which it provided a net asset value (NAV) total return of 10.9% for the six months and a share price total return of 13.0%, both exceeding the total return from its benchmark index of 9.3%. The company says that it saw not only short-term base rates begin to fall but also growing stability in the longer end of the yield curve (3-5 years+) which is where most property companies seek to maintain the majority of their finance. This improvement has also led to further margin reductions as more lenders re-entered the market. The cost of capital therefore fell in the period and this encouraged not only capital raising by a wide range of listed companies but also merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. It adds that such interest from both public and private equity in a range of undervalued listed companies provides a valuable pricing underpin.
• Schroder British Opportunities (SBO) has released its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2024, during which its NAV per share decreased by 2.4% (from 110.05p to 107.39p ), which was driven by a 2.7% decrease in the private equity portfolio. Overall, the value of this portfolio remains at 1.5x cost and SBO’s board says that it is happy with the performance of the trust’s investments. SBO says that the decrease in the private equity portfolio was primarily due to valuation reductions of Rapyd, Cera Care and Learning curve as well as unfavourable foreign exchange movements. It adds that, from an operational perspective, both Rapyd and Cera Care continue to perform well, and it is pleased with their progression. SBO’s public equity performance was largely flat, contributing 0.1% to the NAV over the period, with Volution and Watches of Switzerland performing strongly. The main portfolio activity over the period included investments in Warpaint London (quoted), Forterra (quoted) and Headfirst (unquoted), as well as exits from Ascential (quoted) and Graphcore (unquoted).
• Fondul Proprietatea (FP.) has provided an update on its selection process for an alternative investment fund manager. It says that, following the passing of the deadline for AIFM submissions on 29th November 2024, it has received submissions from 2 candidates, including a global infrastructure asset manager and a European-based AIFM in partnership with a Romanian asset management advisory firm. The company’s board of nominees and its selection advisor Deutsche Numis will assess submissions based on the selection criteria approved by Fondul shareholders by the General Meeting of Shareholders held on 27 September 2024. A further update will be made to investors in due course. Separately, the company has published its financial calendar for 2025.
• BlackRock Energy and Resources Income (BERI) has announced that, with effect from 1 December 2024, it is entitled to receive a rebate from the investment management fee charged by its manager in the event that its ongoing charges exceed the cap of 1.15% per annum of average daily net assets. BERI says that the value of the rebate will be an amount which is sufficient to ensure that its ongoing charges are capped at 1.15%.
• Dunedin Enterprise (DNE) says that regulatory approval has now been granted for the realisation of EV, which it describes as a provider of high-performance video cameras and quantitative visual analytics to the global energy industry. The investment in EV is held via DNE’s interest in Dunedin Buyout Fund III LP, which was valued at £2.6m as at 30 September 2024. DNE says that proceeds received from the transaction amount to £2.7m, consisting entirely of capital. It adds that, following this realisation, it has remaining unlisted investments valued at £5.9m, cash balances of £26.8m and other net assets of £0.5m. DNE has outstanding capital commitments to limited partnership funds of £6.9m.
• Invesco Global Equity Income (IGET) says that, as per its AGM results announcement published on 22 November 2024, its global equity income shares, which make up its entire issued share capital, will be redesignated as ordinary shares with effect from today.
• Aurora (ARR) says that it will acquire approximately £100m of net assets from Artemis Alpha in relation to the rollover, following the approval by shareholders of that trust of the scheme. ARR will 38,369,114 new shares to Artemis Alpha shareholders in connection with this. The new shares are expected to start trading on the London Stock Exchange today.
• International Public Partnerships (INPP) has published a portfolio update covering the five months to the end of November 2024. Its chair, Mike Gerrard, says “INPP’s portfolio has continued to perform well during the period, generating consistent financial returns whilst facilitating the delivery of essential public services. We continue to make progress with our initiatives to optimise the portfolio, address the discount to Net Asset Value (‘NAV’) at which the Company’s shares currently trade, and deliver value to shareholders. This includes the Company making additional divestments during the period which has increased the amount realised over the past 18 months to over £260 million, equivalent to c.10% of the portfolio by value. The Company has also continued to buyback shares under the previously announced share buyback programme of up to £60 million. We remain confident in the Company’s ability to navigate macroeconomic uncertainties, underpinned by the performance of its investment portfolio.” INPP has reaffirmed its 2024 dividend target of 8.37 pence per share which represents 3.0% growth compared to the 2023 dividend. Beyond 2024, INPP’s board says that it expects to revert to its long-term annual dividend growth rate of c.2.5%. INPP will increase the frequency of its dividend payments, from semi-annually to quarterly, from 2025. INPP’s corporate debt facility (CDF) was fully repaid in January 2024 and remains undrawn. During the period, INPP reduced the size (and therefore the associated commitment fees) of the CDF from £350m to £250m. INPP says that, since 30 June 2024, changes in the external macroeconomic environment, including inflation rates, government bond yields and foreign exchange rates, when taken together, are currently expected to have a modest negative impact on its last published NAV per share.

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