Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
GRIT Investment Trust PLC on Friday said it is looking for a business to acquire it in a reverse takeover, as its plans to rebuild its portfolio of natural resources investments fall short.
Back in October 2021, GRIT appointed Richard Lockwood and Malcolm Burne to its board, to progress the company's plans to rebuild its portfolio of natural resources investments.
In June, the company said that in 2021 its principle investment remained its 25% equity interest in and loans to Anglo-African Minerals PLC. As the sale of this asset was ‘unlikely’, it continued to ‘adopt a prudent view and to reflect the company's investment in and loans to AAM at a nil value’.
It also announced that it had received and subsequently accepted an offer for its shares in Siberian Goldfields, recognising a capital surplus of £488,000 in 2022.
Since the appointment, the company said it has been progressing a possible issue of new shares to finance its ongoing investment policy as an investment trust. This involves seeking approval for the publication of a prospectus, and also seeking either internal authorisation as, or the external appointment of, an alternative investment fund manager.
‘However, the board has regrettably come to the conclusion that due both to the difficulties of completing this latter process and the prevailing lack of positive market sentiment towards the resource sector, the planned re-establishment of the company as an active resource-focused investment trust has become unachievable,’ it said.
Accordingly, the company said it will not make any further investments in line with its investment policy. However, it will continue to monitor its remaining existing investments, with the aim of realising any value for the benefit of the company and its shareholders.
It also said that it will look for a business to acquire it through a reverse takeover, as it believes it would be in the best interest of its shareholders. The board has given itself a twelve month period to find a suitable buyer, before the cancellation of its listing is put forward to it shareholders.
This more, which requires shareholder approval, will require GRIT to seek a new listing for the enlarged group on an appropriate public market.
Shares in GRIT were down 0.5% to 11.10 pence each in London on Friday morning.
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.