AVI Global Trust

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AVI Global Trust
Founded6 February 1889; 135 years ago (1889-02-06) in London, UK
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Graham Kitchen (Chairman)
Joe Bauernfreund (Investment Manager)
AUMIncrease GBP £1.1 Billion (January 2024)[1]
WebsiteOfficial website

AVI Global Trust is a London-based British investment trust. The company is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[2] The chairman is Graham Kitchen.[3]

History

The company was established in 1889 as the Transvaal Mortgage Loan and Finance Company,[4] led by chairman W.J. Thompson,[5] and invested in what is now South Africa.[4]

It was renamed the British Empire Land Mortgage and Loan Company in 1906, and British Empire Securities and General Trust in 1964.[6]

Asset Value Investors, an employee-owned management company, was established to manage the firm, then valued at £6 million, in 1985.[7]

The company's goal of acquiring other companies trading below their Net Asset Value led it to attempt takeovers of other investment trusts trading at a discount.[4] In 1986, the company acquired Ashdown Investment Trust for £66 million.[8] In 1989, it mounted a hostile takeover bid for Schroder Global Trust: it had been building up a stake in the target company over a two-year period.[9] In 1995, it acquired the Selective Assets Trust (formerly the Edinburgh Assets Trust)[10] for £42 million.[8]

It simplified its name from British Empire Securities and General Trust to British Empire Trust in 2015.[6]

In 2016, the activist US hedge fund,

Elliott Management Corporation, built up a large stake in the company.[11][12][13][14] The investment was seen as one of Elliott's successful investment positions in the UK.[15]

It changed its name from British Empire Trust to AVI Global Trust in May 2019.[16][17]

Between 2019 and 2020, the company invested heavily in SoftBank Group and other Japanese stocks.[18] The company's strategy has been to take advantage of Softbank's share buyback programme.[19][20] This has supported the company's market capitalisation on the London Stock Exchange which was £751 million in July 2020.[21] It has also built up a significant holding in Pershing Square Holdings, a hedge fund.[22]

ESG Investing

AVI became signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in April 2021.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Overview". AVI Global Trust. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  2. ^ "FTSE 250". FTSE Russell. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. ^ "AVI Global Trust appoints Graham Kitchen as chair". Morning Star. 8 November 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Costello, Miles (27 March 2019). "British Empire Trust". The Times. p. 50. - via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Goldmann, Charles Sydney (1896). South American Mines; Their Position, Results, & Developments: Together with an Account of Diamond, Land, Finance, and Kindred Concerns: Volume 2. Effingham Wilson & Co. p. 156. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b Newlands, John (2016). The History of British Empire Trust (PDF). AVI Investment Management. p. 4. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Asset Value Investors - AVI". Asset Value Investors.
  8. ^ a b "History".
  9. ^ Schroder and British Empire set to lock horns in bid battle Glasgow Herald, 4 February 1989
  10. ^ Edinburgh Assets Trust Oldest Scottish Companies
  11. ^ Dakers, Marion (30 June 2016). "Hedge fund Elliott builds stake in British Empire Trust". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Elliott Advisors builds 5% stake in British Empire trust". Investment Week. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Elliott Advisors takes stake in British Empire Trust". Ft Advisor. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  14. ^ "In the papers: Hershey, Lloyds Banking Group,Bank of England". Proactive Investors. July 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Activist hedge fund Elliott scores successes in UK". Financial times. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  16. ^ "Name Change". Shares Magazine. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  17. ^ "Goodbye British Empire as old trust investor changes name". Citywire. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  18. ^ "AVI rides SoftBank surge as Japan activism becomes its big bet". Investment Trust Advisor. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  19. ^ "SoftBank shares attractive near-term as buyback eyed - UK's AVI". Nasdaq. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  20. ^ "AVI rides SoftBank surge as Japan activism becomes its big bet". Citywire. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  21. ^ "Numis adds Scottish Mortgage to recommended list". Investment Week. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  22. ^ "Buying opportunity for AVI Global". Master Investor. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  23. ^ "ESG Policy" (PDF). Asset Value Investors.com. Retrieved 25 October 2023.

Further reading

External links

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