BlackRock Absolute Return EUR (BARE): Shareholders of the hedge fund have voted through the proposal to wind up the fund. Launched in April 2008, the fund struggled to regain ground after the market collapse in September 2008. BARE is now a EUR16 million fund, which raised more than EUR23 million at its IPO. It has traded at a persistently wide discount since the end of 2008.
India Capital Growth (IGC): The small- and mid-cap Indian companies fund has sold its biggest holding (9.6% as at July 2011) in the unlisted company- Marwadi Shares and Finance Limited (MSFL) - to Amber 2010 Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caledonia Investments. Caledonia Investments is the biggest shareholder of India Capital Growth, owning almost 24% of the company. The price at which the transaction was carried out was based on an independent third party appraisal. Proceeds from the sale will be invested in Indian-listed securities in accordance with the company’s investment policy and in line with its increased focus on liquidity within the portfolio.
JZ Capital Partners (JZCP): Due to changes in the ownership of the ordinary shares and in order to ensure that no more than 50% of ordinary shares are held by US residents, a number of US resident shareholders of JZ Capital Partners voluntarily submitted notices to the company requesting the conversion of some of their ordinary shares into limited voting ordinary shares. The redesignation took place on August 24, as a result of which just under 46% of the ordinary shares in issue are now held by US residents.
GS Dynamic Opportunities GBP (GSDO): Weiss Asset Management has increased its stake by over 4% to almost 24%. Weiss is the biggest shareholder since the Co-operative Asset Management halved its stake earlier this month.
Kings Arms Yard VCT 2 (KAY2): Following preliminary discussions in May this year, the board of KAY and KAY2 announced that KAY2 will be placed into members’ voluntary liquidation and merged with KAY. Both funds are currently managed by Albion Partners and follow the same investment policy. They manage approximately £17 million each, thus the combined size of the new company will be roughly £34 million. The board expects shareholders of KAY2 to receive approximately 1.3 shares in the capital of KAY. Both companies will vote on the changes at the end of September.
SPARK Ventures (SPK): Due to the change of investment strategy to wind up the fund by March 2014 and return cash to shareholders, the board of directors has proposed to return further 1p per share to investors. The fund has already returned some cash in 2010. It currently trades at 8.54p and has gained over 28% YTD, on a NAV basis. The resolution to return cash to investors will be proposed at the AGM on September 12.
Ventus VCT (VEN): The board of directors of VEN, VEN2, VNC & VENC together with the investment manager Climate Change Capital, have agreed to transfer the investment management of the venture capital funds to Temporis Capital, effective September 12. The change follows the resignation of the lead investment manager Steven Read, the poor performance of the fund and a “breach of internal controls” announced in June that related to an unsecured loan made to an investee company. Temporis Capital is a specialist sustainability firm, with expertise that should serve investors of Ventus VCT well.