The merger of the Asia Dragon and New Dawn Asian equities investment trusts has been approved by shareholders.
New Dawn’s £214.7m in assets will now be absorbed by Asia Dragon to create a single trust with more than £700m in assets.
As payment, 52,895,670 new shares in Asia Dragon will be issued to New Dawn shareholders. This reflects a conversion ratio of 0.675514 new shares for every New Dawn share. New Dawn shareholders were also offered a partial cash exit option.
The two trusts have similar strategies and hold many of the same stocks. The merger aims to create efficiencies in the management and improve liquidity.
The fee on the newly-enlarged Asia Dragon is set to be dropped to 0.75% from 0.85%.
Shares in Asia Dragon are trading at 335p today (9 November), for a market cap of £335m. The trust is at an 18% discount to net asset value.