CEF Times: 17-23 March
Electric & General (ENG) has provided further information on its proposed reconstruction. Those shareholders who wish for continuity of investment manager and therefore opt to roll their holdings into Taube Hodson Stonex’s OEIC will be charged a reduced management fee of 0.3% (this being the TER of the A share class of THS International Growth & Value). The OEIC has a large-cap bias and a slight tilt towards value, so shareholders considering the rollover option should check how this fits with their other investments.
Epicure Qatar Equity Opportunity (EQEO) changed its name to Qatar Investment Fund (QIF) on 22 March. Shareholders have also approved the new investment policy, which took effect at the same time. Maximum investment limits have been increased to allow the investment manager greater flexibility relative to the benchmark index; although they are bottom-up stockpickers, their performance is measured relative to the QE Index, which has some dominant constituents and just 20 names from 3 April 2011. Shareholders should be aware this change could increase the concentration of the portfolio even further – at 31 December 2010, the top five holdings accounted for just under 62% of gross assets.
FRM Credit Alpha GBP (FCAP) is now in official wind-down and the investment manager is actively pursuing the realisation of all assets. At 31 January, the underlying fund was already 24% in net cash or cash equivalents, with nine holdings comprising 65% of assets. The FRM fund invests directly in FRM Conduit Fund SPC – Harbinger.
The majority of shareholders in Gartmore Irish Growth (GIR) have opted to take cash rather than units in the open-ended fund Threadneedle Pan-European Smaller Companies. This doesn’t come as a surprise to us as the OEIC is a very different offering from the Gartmore trust.
The discount floor mechanism has been triggered at GS Dynamic Opportunities (GSDO) and a continuation vote must now be held within four months.
SVM UK Active (SVU) has received a bid approach from shareholder Cyrun Finance Ltd, who has a 25.7% stake in the company. Since the approach, the discount to NAV has narrowed from around 12% to 9%. The board has yet to issue its formal response and we await this with interest.