Octopus Renewables (ORIT), Aquila European Renewables (AERI) and Ediston Property Investment Company (EPIC)
Octopus Renewables (ORIT) has unveiled plans to absorb rival fund Aquila European Renewables (AERI), creating “one of the largest LSE-listed diversified renewable energy investment trusts”.
ORIT’s board said the tie-up would create an entity with a portfolio net asset value (NAV) of around £1.6bn and bring the benefits of greater diversification among other things.
This is far from a done deal, however. AERI’s board said it had received “unsolicited proposals” from ORIT about a merger, but reiterated its plans to “explore several different initiatives to address the issues facing the sector and to secure recognition in the company’s share price of the real underlying value of the company’s portfolio”. DB
Read more: Investment trust discounts persist – but so do opportunities
EPIC posts final interims before liquidation post-merger
Ediston Property Investment Company (EPIC) has posted its final interim results before its planned liquidation and cash return to shareholders after it was bought out by Realty Income (US:O) earlier this year for £201mn. The retail park real estate investment trust swung to a £12.5mn pre-tax loss due to an 11.3 per cent net asset value (NAV) slump to £151mn.
Should shareholders vote to accept the company’s liquidation on 11 January, they will receive a “minimum” of 71.88p per share, a 17.5 per cent premium to the 61.2p share price at the time of Realty’s offer and a marginal premium on the current NAV per share of 71.37p. ML
