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AGT Avi Global Trust Plc

235.00
-0.50 (-0.21%)
18 Mar 2025 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
Avi Global Trust Plc LSE:AGT London Ordinary Share GB00BLH3CY60 ORD 2P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  -0.50 -0.21% 235.00 572,682 16:35:20
Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price
235.00 236.00 238.00 235.00 238.00
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
Unit Inv Tr, Closed-end Mgmt 166.72M 142.66M 0.3264 7.22 1.03B
Last Trade Time Trade Type Trade Size Trade Price Currency
16:35:20 UT 70,250 235.00 GBX

Avi Global (AGT) Latest News (3)

Avi Global (AGT) Discussions and Chat

Avi Global Forums and Chat

Date Time Title Posts
15/3/202517:30AVI Global Trust488
28/10/200813:36change your broker sans i am not a happy investor15
26/10/200812:26Argonaut Games Shareholders' Action Group (AGSAG)124
30/12/200723:19Aldgate Capital Plc5
08/6/200512:08AGM 2003 Meeting9,175

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Avi Global (AGT) Most Recent Trades

Trade Time Trade Price Trade Size Trade Value Trade Type
16:35:20235.0070,250165,087.50UT
16:26:15235.506951,636.73AT
16:26:15235.501,4003,297.00AT
16:26:15235.501,1352,672.93AT
16:24:26235.113,4368,078.47O

Avi Global (AGT) Top Chat Posts

Top Posts
Posted at 18/3/2025 08:20 by Avi Global Daily Update
Avi Global Trust Plc is listed in the Unit Inv Tr, Closed-end Mgmt sector of the London Stock Exchange with ticker AGT. The last closing price for Avi Global was 235.50p.
Avi Global currently has 437,061,671 shares in issue. The market capitalisation of Avi Global is £1,029,280,235.
Avi Global has a price to earnings ratio (PE ratio) of 7.22.
This morning AGT shares opened at 238p
Posted at 08/3/2025 20:18 by spangle93
AVI, the investment manager, also manages another investment trust, AJOT, the AVI Japan Opportunity trust. Bauernfreund is personally active in each.

Consequently, the AGT fund has a number of similar investments, with Japan making up about 20% of AGT
Posted at 07/3/2025 17:58 by spangle93
Above transcripts, with some paragraphs to make it legible.

Chris, the Tokyo Stock Exchange reforms to improve capital efficiency work really well over the past couple of years. Is that a trend that's likely to continue in and through 2025?

Yes, absolutely. The reforms have really been in place for just over a decade now. But the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2023 renewed focus on them and they've worked very well in terms of driving returns over that two-year period. One of the things we saw last year was share buybacks double on what was already very high levels in 2023. So we're starting to see those real tangent benefits as shareholders. As for what is in 2025 and onwards, we know there are still benefits that come from the measures that have already been announced. The small cap universe has been a bit slower to react to the reforms. That's understandable. They have less resources at hand. We expect more announcements in 2025 and more action from that part of the market. And then of course the announcements that have already been made will continue to drive returns in 2025. These are multi-year buyback, multi-year dividend and investment strategies and we're starting to see the start of those now. We also know the TSE are preparing to release a new round of reforms. They're going to focus on things such as parent-child listings, MBOs as an option for companies and further emphasize the importance of the reforms that have already been announced. We don't know exactly what shape or form these will take but we know to expect it in the first half of 2025.


Even though you are a stock picker, is there a single macro theme that 's dominating your thinking at the moment?

Yes, we like to focus on the fundamentals as much as possible and we think the reform policies will have the biggest impact on setting corporate Japan stock prices over the coming decade. But for most investors and ourselves, the foreign exchange rates and the interest rate cycles in the US and Japan specifically have been very important. The yen has moved from 130 yen against the dollar to 160 yen against the dollar over the last couple of years. That's had a big impact on the market. The large cap exporters in Japan are extremely sensitive to those rates. We've seen a huge amount of interest and inflow into those share prices and as a result, the large cap universe of Japan has run very hard over the last couple of years. Going forward, it's difficult to know exactly where the currency will stabilize. I think it's very clear to those in Japan that the yen is too cheap at the moment and that will probably correct over the long term. But whether we're at the peak in the short term is more difficult to say.


As a stock picker, what's the difference between the company fundamentals and the valuations as you see them when comparing large to small cap companies?

Well, as I say, the large cap universe has done very well over the last couple of years. One aspect of that has been the foreign exchange rate. The other aspect has been the huge inflow in money we've seen as interesting Japanese equities has picked up on the back of reforms. That's natural. It tends to come into the large cap space and then it filters down into the market as the market rally broadens. What we're seeing at the moment though is the valuation discount for small caps is that close to an all-time low. It's at the lows over the last two decades, roughly 40% price to book discount. Our expectation is that normalised is now and with a stable currency or a more stable currency, we expect those benefits to become more tangible for investors.


What about your fund? How is it positioned right now and how might it change given your outlook again for the rest of 2025?

We're overweight small caps strategically. As I say, the discount at the moment is very large and we expect that to narrow and we continue to focus on those names that will benefit the most from the capital redistribution in Japan. Driven by the reform policies. Those are the two key areas of focus for us. For the market as a whole, we expect 2025 to be a relatively good year. In 2024, we saw some softness in the traditional tech names and auto volumes in the back end of 2024. We expect those to improve going forward and that should start to impact the market and stock prices over the coming years.
Posted at 07/3/2025 13:45 by davebowler
Transcript-
Chris, the Tokyo Stock Exchange reforms to improve capital efficiency work really well over the past couple of years. Is that a trend that's likely to continue in and through 2025? Yes, absolutely. The reforms have really been in place for just over a decade now. But the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2023 renewed focus on them and they've worked very well in terms of driving returns over that two-year period. One of the things we saw last year was share buybacks double on what was already very high levels in 2023. So we're starting to see those real tangent benefits as shareholders. As for what is in 2025 and onwards , we know there are still benefits that come from the measures that have already been announced. The small cap universe has been a bit slower to react to the reforms. That's understandable. They have less resources at hand. We expect more announcements in 2025 and more action from that part of the market. And then of course the announcements that have already been made will continue to drive returns in 2025. These are multi-year buyback, multi-year dividend and investment strategies and we're starting to see the start of those now. We also know the TSE are preparing to release a new round of reforms. They're going to focus on things such as parent-child listings, MBOs as an option for companies and further emphasize the importance of the reforms that have already been announced. We don't know exactly what shape or form these will take but we know to expect it in the first half of 2025. Even though you are a stock picket, is there a single macro theme that 's dominating your thinking at the moment? Yes, we like to focus on the fundamentals as much as possible and we think the reform policies will have the biggest impact on setting corporate Japan stock prices over the coming decade. But for most investors and ourselves, the foreign exchange rates and the interest rate cycles in the US and Japan specifically have been very important. The yen has moved from 130 yen against the dollar to 160 yen against the dollar over the last couple of years. That's had a big impact on the market. The large cap exporters in Japan are extremely sensitive to those rates. We've seen a huge amount of interest and inflow into those share prices and as a result, the large cap universe of Japan has run very hard over the last couple of years. Going forward, it's difficult to know exactly where the currency will stabilize. I think it's very clear to those in Japan that the yen is too cheap at the moment and that will probably correct over the long term. But whether we're at the peak in the short term is more difficult to say. As a stock picker, what's the difference between the company fundamentals and the valuations as you see them when comparing large to small cap companies? Well, as I say, the large cap universe has done very well over the last couple of years. One aspect of that has been the foreign exchange rate. The other aspect has been the huge inflow in money we've seen as interesting Japanese equities has picked up on the back of reforms. That's natural. It tends to come into the large cap space and then it filters down into the market as the market rally broadens. What we're seeing at the moment though is the valuation discount for small caps is that close to an all-time low. It's at the lows over the last two decades, roughly 40% price to book discount. Our expectation is that normalised is now and with a stable currency or a more stable currency, we expect those benefits to become more tangible for investors. What about your fund? How is it positioned right now and how might it change given your outlook again for the rest of 2025? We're overweight small caps strategically. As I say, the discount at the moment is very large and we expect that to narrow and we continue to focus on those names that will benefit the most from the capital redistribution in Japan. Driven by the reform policies. Those are the two key areas of focus for us. For the market as a whole, we expect 2025 to be a relatively good year. In 2024, we saw some softness in the traditional tech names and auto volumes in the back end of 2024. We expect those to improve going forward and that should start to impact the market and stock prices over the coming years. Lovely, Chris. Thank you very much.
Posted at 03/1/2025 09:48 by davebowler
Citywire AVI commentary
As we look forward to 2025, those of us who in one way or another make a living from investment trusts will be hoping that the headwinds faced by the sector over the last few years have passed. While in some respects, what we have witnessed is a natural part of a market cycle, i.e., a boom in issuance followed by a cessation of new IPOs and shrinkage of the existing universe, powerful secular or idiosyncratic forces have exacerbated the down leg of this cycle and cast doubt over what sort of recovery we will see.

Wealth manager consolidation has raised the minimum market cap requirements. While there will inevitably be a wave of refugees, fleeing the tyranny of centralised buy lists to establish new firms more predisposed to investment trusts, this will likely be a slow process and provide only a small offset. Cost disclosure rules forcing wealth managers to report misleadingly inflated aggregated costs to their clients have also weighed heavy on the sector. Although there was recently a brief burst of optimism triggered by the FCA announcement’s on forbearance1 around these rules, this has faded somewhat in the face of ill-judged resistance from certain investment platforms.

Bulls on the sector’s durability will point to its 155-year history and repeated capacity over that time to reinvent itself. Open-ended structures are clearly unfit to house illiquid or private assets, and LTAFs (Long Term Asset Funds) should be a wholly unnecessary attempt to reinvent the wheel, notwithstanding the attractions of volatility laundering. Unfortunately, however, the failure of investment trust boards in certain alternative sectors to get to grips with persistent discounts has sent out an open invitation to prospective LTAF managers to steal their lunch. That grumble aside, our money would be on the sector surviving and thriving given the superiority of the structure and the opportunities for new issuance to capitalise, for example, on the enormous sums required to finance the energy transition.

First, it’s imperative that excess supply in the sector shrinks through consolidation, managed run-offs, and take-privates before it can hope to grow again. While this process is already underway, the quicker we can get through this stage of the cycle, the sooner those sunlit uplands will come into view.

Movements in gilt rates, the pace of wealth manager consolidation, and the misconceived anti-consumer choice behaviour of a small number of investment platforms are all factors outside the control of industry participants. Accelerating this unwind phase of the cycle is not, and all stakeholders have a part to play - investment trust boards, brokers, and shareholders.

Investment Trust Boards
Boards need to continually examine if investment strategies are still relevant and, if so, whether they are differentiated enough, and whether their investment vehicle in particular is the right one to execute that strategy. Perhaps their shareholders might be better served through mergers with other trusts or by going into managed run-off, a portion of the cash proceeds from which are likely to find their way back into the sector and, ultimately, be available to back new IPOs? Brokers should be willing to offer candid advice to boards on these matters, and it is imperative that shareholders make sure their voices are also heard.

None of the above are novel insights. But if there is one key area in which there is much room for improvement, and which would grease the Schumpeterian wheels, it’s communication between these stakeholders.

Chairs should be on the front foot, pro-actively offering meetings with shareholders to directly hear their views on the company (and shareholders should always accept these invitations!). And while there is clearly a need to be mindful of commercial considerations which will vary on a case-by-case basis, the default position of boards should be to disclose takeover bids even if they are minded to reject them as undervaluing the company. Let shareholders decide.

As a related aside, there is a strong case for investment trust directors being paid more. While this clearly needs to be approached on a consultative basis with shareholders and acknowledging that this will exacerbate - at least in the short to medium term - the status quo under which bad directors are overpaid, such a change is vital to attracting high-quality candidates to the sector, particularly in alternative asset classes which are more complex and where specialist knowledge and experience is so important.

We’ve observed a very welcome increase in the number of investors in the sector willing to engage robustly with boards that are failing to effectively represent the best interests of shareholders. This is a hugely important development that has significantly advanced the progress we have seen to date in reducing oversupply.

But there is still a reticence in some quarters to fully engage with other shareholders.

Shareholder-to-shareholder engagement is crucial and, when it doesn’t happen, more cynical boards will play divide-and-conquer. If we had a pound for every time we’ve heard from directors some variant of “well, you’re the only one saying that”, we’d be able to hire a professional writer for this article less reliant on hackneyed cliches. Invariably, we then find from speaking with other shareholders not only that they share our views but that the board has previously been made aware of them.

We understand that regulatory/compliance concerns deter some investors from speaking openly with others. These concerns are almost always misplaced. The Takeover Panel has set out in a memo2 that the bar to being considered a concert party is incredibly high, requiring shareholders acting collectively to requisition a meeting to consider a board-controlling resolution. Indeed, the Panel have specifically stated that (i) discussions between shareholders about possible issues to raise with a board; (ii) joint letters or emails to a board; and even (iii) an agreement to vote in the same way at a meeting are not factors that would “of themselves…[lead the Panel] to conclude that a concert party had come together”.

Asset Value Investors (AVI) wears two hats, the first as the investment manager of three investment trusts (AVI Global Trust, AVI Japan Opportunity Trust, and MIGO Opportunities Trust); the second as an investor in investment trusts (via AVI Global, MIGO Opportunities, and dedicated open-ended funds and separate accounts). While the current opportunity set in investment trusts is among the most compelling we can recall, with prospective returns abnormally high, we have a vested interest in the long-term success of the sector whichever hat we are wearing.
Posted at 19/12/2024 09:29 by davebowler
Citywire-
AVI's Perspective: Navigating the Investment Trust Landscape
By
Tom Treanor

As we look forward to 2025, those of us who in one way or another make a living from investment trusts will be hoping that the headwinds faced by the sector over the last few years have passed. While in some respects, what we have witnessed is a natural part of a market cycle, i.e., a boom in issuance followed by a cessation of new IPOs and shrinkage of the existing universe, powerful secular or idiosyncratic forces have exacerbated the down leg of this cycle and cast doubt over what sort of recovery we will see.

Wealth manager consolidation has raised the minimum market cap requirements. While there will inevitably be a wave of refugees, fleeing the tyranny of centralised buy lists to establish new firms more predisposed to investment trusts, this will likely be a slow process and provide only a small offset. Cost disclosure rules forcing wealth managers to report misleadingly inflated aggregated costs to their clients have also weighed heavy on the sector. Although there was recently a brief burst of optimism triggered by the FCA announcement’s on forbearance1 around these rules, this has faded somewhat in the face of ill-judged resistance from certain investment platforms.

Bulls on the sector’s durability will point to its 155-year history and repeated capacity over that time to reinvent itself. Open-ended structures are clearly unfit to house illiquid or private assets, and LTAFs (Long Term Asset Funds) should be a wholly unnecessary attempt to reinvent the wheel, notwithstanding the attractions of volatility laundering. Unfortunately, however, the failure of investment trust boards in certain alternative sectors to get to grips with persistent discounts has sent out an open invitation to prospective LTAF managers to steal their lunch. That grumble aside, our money would be on the sector surviving and thriving given the superiority of the structure and the opportunities for new issuance to capitalise, for example, on the enormous sums required to finance the energy transition.

First, it’s imperative that excess supply in the sector shrinks through consolidation, managed run-offs, and take-privates before it can hope to grow again. While this process is already underway, the quicker we can get through this stage of the cycle, the sooner those sunlit uplands will come into view.

Movements in gilt rates, the pace of wealth manager consolidation, and the misconceived anti-consumer choice behaviour of a small number of investment platforms are all factors outside the control of industry participants. Accelerating this unwind phase of the cycle is not, and all stakeholders have a part to play - investment trust boards, brokers, and shareholders.

Investment Trust Boards
Boards need to continually examine if investment strategies are still relevant and, if so, whether they are differentiated enough, and whether their investment vehicle in particular is the right one to execute that strategy. Perhaps their shareholders might be better served through mergers with other trusts or by going into managed run-off, a portion of the cash proceeds from which are likely to find their way back into the sector and, ultimately, be available to back new IPOs? Brokers should be willing to offer candid advice to boards on these matters, and it is imperative that shareholders make sure their voices are also heard.

None of the above are novel insights. But if there is one key area in which there is much room for improvement, and which would grease the Schumpeterian wheels, it’s communication between these stakeholders.

Chairs should be on the front foot, pro-actively offering meetings with shareholders to directly hear their views on the company (and shareholders should always accept these invitations!). And while there is clearly a need to be mindful of commercial considerations which will vary on a case-by-case basis, the default position of boards should be to disclose takeover bids even if they are minded to reject them as undervaluing the company. Let shareholders decide.

As a related aside, there is a strong case for investment trust directors being paid more. While this clearly needs to be approached on a consultative basis with shareholders and acknowledging that this will exacerbate - at least in the short to medium term - the status quo under which bad directors are overpaid, such a change is vital to attracting high-quality candidates to the sector, particularly in alternative asset classes which are more complex and where specialist knowledge and experience is so important.

We’ve observed a very welcome increase in the number of investors in the sector willing to engage robustly with boards that are failing to effectively represent the best interests of shareholders. This is a hugely important development that has significantly advanced the progress we have seen to date in reducing oversupply.

But there is still a reticence in some quarters to fully engage with other shareholders.

Shareholder-to-shareholder engagement is crucial and, when it doesn’t happen, more cynical boards will play divide-and-conquer. If we had a pound for every time we’ve heard from directors some variant of “well, you’re the only one saying that”, we’d be able to hire a professional writer for this article less reliant on hackneyed cliches. Invariably, we then find from speaking with other shareholders not only that they share our views but that the board has previously been made aware of them.

We understand that regulatory/compliance concerns deter some investors from speaking openly with others. These concerns are almost always misplaced. The Takeover Panel has set out in a memo2 that the bar to being considered a concert party is incredibly high, requiring shareholders acting collectively to requisition a meeting to consider a board-controlling resolution. Indeed, the Panel have specifically stated that (i) discussions between shareholders about possible issues to raise with a board; (ii) joint letters or emails to a board; and even (iii) an agreement to vote in the same way at a meeting are not factors that would “of themselves…[lead the Panel] to conclude that a concert party had come together”.

Asset Value Investors (AVI) wears two hats, the first as the investment manager of three investment trusts (AVI Global Trust, AVI Japan Opportunity Trust, and MIGO Opportunities Trust); the second as an investor in investment trusts (via AVI Global, MIGO Opportunities, and dedicated open-ended funds and separate accounts). While the current opportunity set in investment trusts is among the most compelling we can recall, with prospective returns abnormally high, we have a vested interest in the long-term success of the sector whichever hat we are wearing.
Posted at 10/12/2024 16:13 by craigso
Wow! D'leteren closed yesterday at 200 euros or so. It does ex-dividend today (74 euros per share) but trades this afternoon at around 160 euros per share. Taking off the 7.4 euros per share of tax AVI mentions, that's still a 13.3% return in one day on nearly 10% of AVI.

Unfortunately us mere mortals would have had 30% Belgian withholding tax on that 74 euro dividend. And my plan to buy ex-dividend obviously didn't happen when the share price of DIE.BR didn't drop by 74 euros at the open. I assume that AVI might not see the value in reinvesting the dividend back into DIE.BR either.
Posted at 12/9/2024 10:27 by davebowler
Switch EditionUK?Opinion09 Sep, 2024James Carthew: AVI Global can extend its excellent track recordDiscounts across global markets present opportunities for the UK-based bargain hunter, which recently cashed in on Starwood's Balanced Commercial Property bid.ByJames CarthewThe investment companies sector continues to shrink. So far in September, we have seen bids for Tritax EuroBox (EBOX) and Balanced Commercial Property Trust (BCPT), JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets failing its continuation vote, and Aurora (ARR) absorbing Artemis Alpha (ATS). All of this is in reaction to the persistent discounts across the sector.Yet, despite the attractive uplifts investors can achieve when these exit opportunities materialise (21% for BCPT and 27% for EBOX), very few UK-based investors seem to be hunting for these potential bargains. Instead, most discount-driven investors in the sector seem to be American.One UK-based investor that has been profiting from these value opportunities is AVI Global Trust (AGT). It cashed in more than 15 million shares in BCPT following the announcement of that bid, crystallising a decent profit on its position.The trust invests in assets its manager Asset Value Investors (AVI) believes are valued at a discount to their intrinsic value; it invests in a mix of holding companies, closed-end funds, and asset-backed special situations (AVI Global's Japanese investments fall into this category). Where it can, it will work – often behind the scenes, but sometimes quite publicly – to unlock that value for the benefit of all shareholders.Over the past few years, AVI Global has found no shortage of potential investment opportunities. Macroeconomics (rising interest rates, China's slump, inflation and the like) caused discounts to widen, not just in the investment companies' sector.That could have been problematic for the trust, as widening discounts on its portfolio could have driven down its net asset value (NAV). However, fund manager Joe Bauernfreund has done a great job unlocking value and recycling capital to new positions. Over five years, the portfolio's underlying returns of 64% are ahead of the MSCI All Countries World index's 57%, according to Deutsche Numis data, and commendably it has achieved this without any exposure to the Magnificent Seven US technology stocks.Recent successesThe manager has sought to position the portfolio to benefit from individual discount-narrowing events but without too much generic market risk, so it should not be too much affected by gyrations in the price of Nvidia, for example. It also managed to get out of Pershing Square Holdings before the Universal Music profit warning crashed its share price in July.AVI's name has been cropping up a fair bit recently. It was heavily involved in blocking the sale of some of Hipgnosis Songs' (SONG) catalogues at a knockdown price and profited from the subsequent takeover of the company (at the time it was the largest position in AGT's portfolio). AGT was also a substantial shareholder in Pantheon International (PIN) when it adopted its new capital allocation policy.BCPT was one of several positions AVI Global built up in cheap property stocks. Another is PRS Reit (PRSR). AVI is not one of the requisitionists looking to make changes to the PRS board but has given an irrevocable undertaking to support their proposals. AVI is unhappy with the board's proposed extension of the management contract to 2029, which effectively creates a poison pill. It is also concerned about the board's spending on external advisers.I am a bystander but support the requisitionists' stance. You only want to fire a manager when you are unhappy with their service, or a windup/takeover means their services are no longer required. Outside the initial period after the initial public offering, and in most cases, not even then, there is no reason why a manager needs to have more than 12 months' notice in their contract, and six months is now more normal.The largest position in AVI Global's portfolio is News Corp. AVI believes the sum of the parts – including online real estate portal REA Group, HarperCollins and Dow Jones – is a lot more than the current share price suggests. Crucially, it also thinks the latent value can be unlocked. There are plenty of other similarly interesting situations in the portfolio.Ongoing campaignsElsewhere, back in our sector, AVI Global has big positions in four investment companies in its top 10. It holds Oakley Capital Investments, reasoning, as I do, that its performance track record merits a discount closer to HgCapital Trust's (HGT) sub-3% level than Oakley's current level of 27%. Oakley just freed up £50m from its portfolio as its stake in Ocean Technologies Group was sold for 2.7 times what it paid for it in 2019. Oakley appears to have no shortage of new investments with similar potential to reinvest the proceeds into.Partners Group Private Equity, formerly Princess Private Equity, has been much less successful than Oakley, but AVI Global would also like to see its 23% discount narrow from here.Chrysalis (CHRY) has seen some modest narrowing of its discount (now about 45%), but its fortunes could be transformed if it sold one of its more mature investments – Klarna is the one that seems to be in the frame.Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD) suffered by being bracketed with the abysmal Digital 9 Infrastructure (DGI9). Cordiant is trading on a 35% discount. Its latest quarterly trading update was quite encouraging, recording improving underlying revenue and profits to support its well-covered dividend. Cordiant is buying back stock but needs to do more to win back support.It is also worth mentioning AVI Global's Japanese exposure – about 23% of the trust at the end of August. The market volatility that accompanied the Bank of Japan's rate increase and subsequent yen rally at the end of July, which I wrote about, took just over 1% off the trust's NAV. However, true to form, the manager took advantage of the selloff to add to positions at attractive prices, laying the ground for further NAV appreciation in time.James Carthew is head of research at QuotedData.?Any opinions expressed by Citywire, its staff orRelated Portfolio ManagersJoe Bauernfreund??
Posted at 09/9/2024 10:36 by davebowler
InvestecAVI Global Trust (AGT): AGT published its Newsletter for August last week. AVI take a value orientated approach (in place since 1985) and given the portfolio is fairly concentrated (top 10 accounts for 55%) you will be unsurprised to hear the DD process is incredibly thorough. AGT currently has 30% invested in closed-end funds. We think there continues to be an interesting backdrop for AGT to take advantage of the significant discounts on offer and the pickup we are seeing in corporate activity/activism. There have been a number of recent corporate actions for the underlying AGT portfolio companies which have had a positive impact. Some of which AVI will have been more involved in than others, these include:Hipgnosis Songs (SONG) – Acquired by Blackstone.PRS REIT (PRSR) – Shareholders requisitioning an EGM to seek removal of the Chairman and a strategic review.Balanced Commercial Property Trust (BCPT) – Starwood cash offer for the company last week. BCPT's shares rallied more than 10.3% last Wednesday and AVI confirmed it had sold its 16,165,250 shares.Aberdeen European Logistics Income (ASLI) – In Wind-Down.NT Lease Office Property (NLOP) – In Wind-Down.Chrysalis (CHRY) – We note AGT recently announced a holding >10% in CHRY. The second part of CHRY's Capital Allocation Policy, which is dependent on further portfolio realisations is to return £100m to shareholders via share buybacks. Klarna is expected to IPO in Q1-25 and Visa is reportedly in negotiations to acquire Featurespace.
Posted at 14/6/2024 08:16 by davebowler
Citywire-
Investment company bargain hunter Joe Bauernfreund says the 39% return the trust made in eight months on SONG demonstrates value of shareholder activism and importance of having the right board.
Jamie Colvin
BY
JAMIE COLVIN

comments
Activist investor AVI Global (AGT) has sold out of Hipgnosis Songs (SONG) after a ‘highly successful’ holding that saw the rejigged board engineer a takeover bid above the shares’ 2018 listing price.

Writing in the £1.2bn trust’s half-year report, fund manager Joe Bauernfreund highlighted his role in fighting off the proposed sale of a portion of SONG’s catalogues and urging fellow shareholders to vote against the company’s continuation last October.

The activist then pushed successfully for the appointment to the board of Robert Naylor and Francis Keeling, who had just stepped down from rival Round Hill Music Royalty (RHM) following its acquisition by Concord.

In April, a bidding war commenced in which Blackstone, the majority owner of Hipgnosis Songs Management, saw off another bid from Concord with a recommended offer at a 47% premium to the share price.

‘We are delighted with an outcome that has not only generated a very strong return for AGT’s shareholders but has demonstrated again both the value of shareholder activism and the critical importance of having the right people on boards,’
Bauernfreund first invested the trust in SONG in late 2020; he sold more than half its stake 12 months later. He then rebuilt the position back up to 6% ahead of the continuation vote.


While the stake detracted from returns in the six months to 31 March, over the whole period of its last phase of ownershp up to May 2024, AVI Global received a 39% total return. The trust has returned 24.6% in one year.

Bauernfreund hasn’t been the only seller. Most long-term holders sold out after Blackstone won the day, with hedge funds flooding in to take the 131-cents-per-share (102.7p) offer when the deal completes in the third quarter. The shares trade at just over 101p.
Trust bargains
Over the half-year, AVI Global delivered total returns of 14%, including the 1.2p dividend, while the shares jumped 16%, falling just short of the MSCI All-Country World index’s 16.1% gain, largely driven by US mega-cap stocks.

Bauernfreund has taken advantage of the wide discounts across the investment company sector, which are ‘almost entirely for non-fundamental reasons’, where the trust can add value through activism. As a result, gearing, or borrowing, has increased to 9.6% of assets.

Closed-end funds made up 31% of the trust at the end of May, with the larger positions including private equity funds Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) and Princess (PEY), and Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD), which have respective weightings of 6.7%, 5.6% and 3.6%.





Over the period, US private equity company KKR was the top performer, adding 2.5% to net asset value (NAV) as its share price soared 64%. AGT’s investment thesis remains that alternative asset managers remain undervalued.

Asia-focused private equity firm Symphony International Holdings was the worst performer, knocking 0.8% off performance; its dollar shares fell as the discount widened from 36% to 50%, exacerbated by a rally in the pound.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is now the largest asset in the portfolio, with an 8.8% weighting, after Bauernfreund added to the position. Oakley and Princess are the second-largest holdings.

Over the past five years, the trust’s shares have soared 74%, ranking it third in the AIC Global sector, where the average return has been 57.7%.

AGT’s shares closed at 239.5p on Wednesday, 8% below NAV. The board spent £24m on buybacks to narrow the discount over the half-year
Posted at 08/6/2024 07:20 by davebowler
quoted-data-Listed Fund ResearchAVI Global TrustThriving under pressureThe AVI Global Trust (AGT) has gone from strength to strength as its managers identify a wealth of opportunities. A share price total return of over 30% in the past year highlights the value of the company's strategy of targeting high-quality companies whose shares are trading at a discount to their intrinsic value.Against a backdrop of markets adjusting to structurally higher interest rates, especially in the US, we expect this momentum to continue, and the value of less correlated market returns (in other words returns not tied to the performance of broader market indices), such as those provided by AGT, to increase.Despite its strong performance, the company continues to trade on a share price discount to net asset value (NAV) of 7.4%. Given AGT's performance track record and increasingly optimistic outlook, we believe this is an attractive entry point for investors, particularly for those looking to manage exposure to increasingly concentrated and expensive market indexes.Extracting value from discounted opportunitiesAGT aims to achieve capital growth through a focused portfolio of investments, particularly in companies whose shares stand at a discount to estimated underlying net asset value. It invests in quality assets held through unconventional structures that tend to attract discounts; these types of companies include holding companies, closed-end funds, and asset-backed special situations.NB: Marten & Co was paid to produce this note on AVI Global Trust Plc and it is for information purposes only.
Avi Global share price data is direct from the London Stock Exchange

Avi Global Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the current Avi Global share price?
The current share price of Avi Global is 235.00p
How many Avi Global shares are in issue?
Avi Global has 437,061,671 shares in issue
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The market capitalisation of Avi Global is GBP 1.03B
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Avi Global has traded in the range of 215.50p to 250.50p during the past year
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The price to earnings ratio of Avi Global is 7.22
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The cash to sales ratio of Avi Global is 6.17
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Avi Global reports financial results in GBP
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The latest annual turnover of Avi Global is GBP 166.72M
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The latest annual profit of Avi Global is GBP 142.66M
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The registered address for Avi Global is CENTRAL SQUARE, 29 WELLINGTON STREET, ENGLAND, LEEDS, LS1 4DL
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The website address for Avi Global is www.assetvalueinvestors.com/agt/
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Avi Global operates in the INVESTMENT TRUSTS DIV'D sector