AVI Global Trust is a London-based
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
investment trust
An investment trust is a form of investment fund found mostly in the United Kingdom and Japan. Investment trusts are constituted as public limited companies and are therefore closed ended since the fund managers cannot redeem or create shares.
...
. The company is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index
The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...
. The
chairwoman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
is Susan Noble.
History
The company was established in 1889 as the Transvaal Mortgage Loan and Finance Company,
[ - via ProQuest.] led by chairman W.J. Thompson. As the Transvaal Mortgage Loan and Finance Company, it invested in what is now
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
The firm was renamed the British Empire Land Mortgage and Loan Company in 1906, British Empire Securities and General Trust Limited in 1964 and British Empire Trust in 2015, with the final name change to AVI Global Trust in 2019.
The firm's recent history dates to 1985, when Asset Value Investors, an employee-owned management company was established to manage the firm, then valued at £6 million.
Its goal of acquiring firms under NAV has led it to attempt takeovers of other investment trusts trading at a discount.
[ In 1986, the company acquired Ashdown Investment Trust for £66 million.][AVI Global Trust: History](_blank)
/ref> 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. In 1995, it acquired the Selective Assets Trust (formerly the Edinburgh Assets Trust) for £42 million.[ It changed its name from British Empire Trust to AVI Global Trust in May 2019.
In 2016, the activist US hedge fund, ]Elliott Management Corporation
Elliott Investment Management is an American investment management firm. It is also one of the largest activist funds in the world.
It is the management affiliate of American hedge funds Elliott Associates L.P. and Elliott International Limit ...
, built up a large stake in the company. The investment was seen as one of Elliott's successful investment positions in the UK.
In 2019–20, the company invested heavily in SoftBank Group
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...
and other Japanese stocks. The company's strategy has been to take advantage of Softbank's share buyback programme. This has supported the company's market capitalisation on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
which was £751 million in July 2020. It has also built up a significant holding in Pershing Square Holdings
Pershing Square Holdings is a large British investment trust dedicated to long-term investments in North American companies. Established in 2012, the company is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The chairman is Anne Farlow. The fund is managed ...
, a hedge fund.
ESG Investing
AVI became signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in April 2021.
References
Further reading
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External Links
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{{Authority control
Investment trusts of the United Kingdom
British companies established in 1985
Financial services companies established in 1985
Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange