Chrysalis’s board has urged shareholders to vote for a continuation resolution ahead of the trust’s AGM and EGM on 15 March.
This will be the trust’s first-ever continuation vote. Should the vote pass, a continuation vote will be put to shareholders every three years as set out at the firm’s IPO.
In a stock exchange announcement this morning (29 January), the board said it “unanimously” recommends voting in support of continuation.
See also: ‘Cutting away the fat’: Investment trust selectors ‘applaud’ decision of Chrysalis’s board
Explaining the reasons for continuation, the board said: “The company was formed to take advantage of the trend for growth companies to source expansion capital from the private markets rather than the public markets. That trend, five years later, has accelerated with fewer companies coming to the public market and growth companies largely continuing their high-growth development as private companies.
“Some of the world’s largest private growth companies have been in existence for more than ten years, have accessed private capital repeatedly and have avoided public capital markets until becoming very mature and substantial businesses.
“Given its structure, the company is ideally placed to provide institutional and retail investors with access to those types of growth companies in a form that matches with the investee company’s aspiration for growth and our capacity to be a long-term holder and supporter.”
The EGM will also see shareholders vote on the termination of Jupiter Investment Management as portfolio manager and investment adviser.
Managers Richard Watts and Nick Williamson are due to leave Jupiter to set up Chrysalis Investment Partners, which is set to be approved as the new portfolio manager of the trust.
Meanwhile, investors will also vote on fee changes, with the board looking to reduce the performance fee payable to investment advisers from 20% to 12.5%, and introduce a cap of 2.75% in each financial year.
The trust’s board added that no performance fee will become payable unless a benchmark of 251.96p is hit.
The trust also announced its annual results to 30 September 2023 this morning. NAV per share over the period fell 8.9% to 134.65p, while total net assets dropped 9% to £801m.
However, the firm’s performance has improved since the close of the period, with NAV per share up to 143.37p at the end of 2023 – up 6.5% due to the revaluation of holdings Klarna and Starling Bank.
