F&c Asset Management Share Discussion Threads

[the jackel] 21/9/2010 12:06

How many shares did Sherbourne say they were going to purchase? According to F&C's website they have a holding of 50,733,267 which equates to a 9.87% shareholding.
Also out of interest what percentage holding would a active investor require to make a hostile takeover? For some reason I've got 33% holding my head!

[salpara111] 09/9/2010 20:43

Well Sherbourne have added again as per this morning's note.
However it is clear that they are slowing down the rate of acquisition.
I am not overly concerned and dont feel that there should be too much problem in getting to the 75p line but that is probably about as far as it will carry for the immediate future.
There is a rather unusual market for this stock at the moment and I guess that some buyers who got in at 50p or there abouts will be looking to exit now with good gains.
I am around break even now having acquired at 74 and again at 60 but am not looking to sell at present.

[lord gnome] 09/9/2010 18:42

You may have to wait for some time. I now view this stock as 'source of funds' to be sold if I see a better opportunity elsewhere. It could be a long wait before things start cooking here.

[the jackel] 09/9/2010 18:40

Fair point Lord Gnome I'm only bitter because I'm looking for a 75p sell off point. Do you think I will reach it?

[lord gnome] 09/9/2010 17:18

Sherbourne are the only buyer, Jackel. When they take a breather the price drops back.

[the jackel] 09/9/2010 16:17

There are double the amount of buys compared to sells and the price goes down hmmm watch a big buy at the end of trading today by Sherbourne!

[the jackel] 09/9/2010 15:50

Sorry but I reckon the current weakness in share price today is a tree shake to obtain more shares for Sherbourne. In my opinion.

[salpara111] 08/9/2010 09:16

While I think it is a little far fetched to belive that another suitor would be around the corner I guess that if someone were to come along to Sherbourne and say..."we will buy your stake for 80p a share" I would imagine that they would bite their hand off as they would book a very handsome profit for a couple of weeks work.

[the jackel] 06/9/2010 22:01

Qwazi- It has crossed my mind that a third party may be waiting on the sidelines! It usually takes a activist investor like Sherborne to shake things up and get the interested parties sniffing around.

[qwazi] 05/9/2010 14:54

Interesting comment in the FT:

The activist investor said it was not seeking a controlling stake in F&C, but analysts believe Sherborne could try to gain a seat on its board, which could result in it pushing for a change to F&C management. It has also been suggested a third party may be interested in taking over F&C. F&C says it has not had direct contact with Sherborne.

That's the first I've heard about a potential takeover. Anyone have any info on this?

[etome] 04/9/2010 13:16

It is reasonable to expect the share price back to 70-80 range soon.

[nscap] 03/9/2010 21:04

All I know is that it is an Gurnsey based firm who have made the recent by. My company have been in since approximately 50p. Excellent buy for a few years.

[enami] 03/9/2010 18:14

Date Broker name New Price Old price target New price target Broker change 03-Sep-10 Citigroup Buy 67.75p 79.00p 75.00p Upgrade

[enami] 03/9/2010 18:14

Date Broker name New Price Old price target New price target Broker change 03-Sep-10 Citigroup Buy 67.75p 79.00p 75.00p Upgrade

[nellie1973] 03/9/2010 18:13

Broker upgrade-BUY

[barkjon23] 03/9/2010 10:35

Wondered what the push ws this morning, thanks for posting

[etome] 03/9/2010 07:32

F&C Asset Mgmt upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup

[the jackel] 02/9/2010 18:12

More Major interest in these shares and if I'm correct it looks like Aviva. Don't they also have a large stake in Sherbourne! I may be wrong on this info. But sure I heard they were a major shareholder in Sherbourne apologies if I'm incorrect.

[salpara111] 02/9/2010 15:57

Well you cant say that this stock lacks action....just look at the number of significant holding declarations made by several different companies in the last few weeks!
Having said that it looks like someone has dumped some but they are all getting eagerly hoovered up.
I wonder if the shorters have closed out their position, I know they announced that they had reduced their short but have not seen any futher announcements and I'm not sure if they are legally obliged to release an announcement.
Still...after a long grim period there appears to be a bit of action here now.

[salpara111] 02/9/2010 11:22

There is really no point in looking at what ADVFN show in terms of sells/buys.
They are rarely an accurate indication of what is actually happening.
Given that Sherbourne have indicated that they intend to take a stake "up to but not exceeding 29.9% of the company Market Makers will doubtless be under instruction to buy in stock up to a certain price level.
The other twist to this is that FCAM will regain their place in the FTSE 250 at the upcoming reshuffle which will require quite a number of funds to buy back in again having only dumped out 6 months ago. This will also create buying pressure.
I expect to see a rise up to the 70 level on the back of this technical action, what happens after that is rather less clear.

[the jackel] 01/9/2010 19:43

During the last two trading days the sells have far out weighed the buys yet the share price has still remained strong or crept up slightly is this a sign of market makers holding shares back for Sherbourne? Any info or thoughts on this would be most welcome as my knowledge of this sort of practice is limited. This is just a thought and speculation on my part but any input would be helpful. Good trading all!

[salpara111] 31/8/2010 11:06

Depends on your view of "better opportunities"
HMV has a divi of over 12% which is covered but the market views the stock as fairly valued.
In the sector that FCAM operate, a yield of 4.9% and their current p/e rating make them cheap.
The question is do you think that their business is going to improve over the next 12 months. If you do then they are value if you dont then look at other sectors which are rated differently.
I hold HMV and IRV both of which have well covered divis of 12% and 9% respectively due the fact that the market has taken a serious dislike to both their sectors and the idividual stocks.
In order to remove systemic risk from your portfolio you should not have more than 10% of your stock in any one company.
I hold FCAM in order to diversify and also because I belive that they have the scope to improve more than other companies in their sector over the next 12 months.

[chrisg] 31/8/2010 10:06

My guess is that Sherbourne have set a maximum price for their purchases, much like we can set limit orders, and told the mm's, and as long as people are prepared to sell at current prices (some 20% above recent lows) why pay more? Makes me wonder whether there aren't better opportunities out there, on both a yield and p/e basis (yield now only 4.9% and p/e in double figures).

[salpara111] 31/8/2010 09:47

So Sherbourne have now exercised the options they had over about 5.5% of the shares and now directly own 14.6% of the business.
I guess they are in the fortunate position of being able to still acquire at low prices. I am surprised that the Market makers have not tried to push up the share price during this acquisiton period.