Investment Trust Discounts – Update re Rockwood Realisation and implications

The proposed wind-up of the £40.7m Rockwood Realisation investment trust – formerly called Gresham House Strategic – has been overturned following its annual general meeting on 25 April 2022.

More than 95% of shareholders voted for proposed changes in the investment strategy to take place as opposed to a wind-up of the trust, despite Gresham House calling for a managed two-year wind-down of the vehicle and for the initial return of capital via a B share scheme at the end of last year.

This is a long running saga that has been mentioned in various blogs in the past. Links to these are below.

Should other investment trusts follow this example?

Any investment trust with a discount will need to look seriously at this case study.

Cliff Weight’s 17 October 2020 blog highlighted a range of ways to reduce the discount. Tender offers are not the only way, but appear to be a powerful tool in the armoury. A combination of shareholder pressure and an enlightened board willing to embrace new ideas may be the best approach.

Conclusion

The SEC/Rockwood Realisation case study is a good example of what shareholders can do, if they engage pro-actively with management who are also willing to engage. There have been shareholder resolutions and various parties have put their views forward strongly. The progress so far looks positive, but time will tell.

 

 

Previous Blogs about Investment Trust Discounts, Rockwood, SEC and Gresham

Investment Trust Discounts, What To Do About Them and SEC Example

…would be retained. Gresham House already has two other products which do broadly the same thing – the microcap OEIC run by Ken Wootton, and Gresham House Strategic Trust plc…

Strategic Equity Capital update

…to bring about positive change or is this simple asset gathering exercise to expand Gresham House’s AUM? Gresham House will have a powerful incentive to transition the SEC portfolio towards…

When is a concert party not a concert party?

The views expressed in this article are those of the author, not necessarily those of ShareSoc. Today’s RNS from GHE (Gresham House plc) who own Gresham House Asset Management (GHAM)…

…bought shares in Gresham House Strategic in June 2017 @911p and March 2018 @828p. Gresham manage Baronsmead VCTs and are now trading at 1275p, so a healthy gain so far….

Policy and Campaigns – Progress Update 20 Dec 2021

Gresham House Strategic: We are very annoyed by a group of shareholders who seem to be led by the fund manager (Gresham House plc) and have requestioned a GM and…

Investment Trust Discount Reduction – The SEC example

…agreed to let the Board pursue its strategy until at least 2024. With a new manager (Ken Wotton at Gresham) and a focus in UK small caps (what I regard…

This is an official ShareSoc news item drafted by Cliff Weight, ShareSoc Director. Cliff owns shares in Rockwood and formerly in Gresham House plc.
2 Comments
  1. Cliff Weight says:

    https://app.stockopedia.com/share-prices/rockwood-strategic-LON:RKW/news/rockwood-strategic-interim-results-urn:newsml:reuters.com:20221123:nRSW3334Ha
    Discount to NAV now only 2%. Outperformed index by 10% in latest results minus 10% v minus 20% for the index benchmark.

  2. Cliff Weight says:

    NAV now 1887p and share price 1870p, up about 30% in the past 3 months.

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