Chrysalis Investments has come up short in its latest share placing, raising halve of its intended target, as jitters about the Omicron variant dented investor confidence.
At the beginning of December, managers Richard Watts (pictured left) and Nick Williamson (pictured right) announced plans to raise fresh funds from investor as part of a 600 million share placing programme.
The pair had been targeting £125m from investors for a pipeline of investment opportunities available to the trust into early 2022 but said they could comfortably deploy up to £175m in fresh capital.
However, unlike their initial £300m placing in March, which was oversubscribed, Watts and Williamson managed to scrape together just £60m. The £1.9bn trust has issued 25,210,084 new ordinary shares at 238p a piece.
An RNS filing said the proceeds of the issue would be used primarily to fund follow-on investments for existing holdings.
“The company is pleased to have had positive engagement with a range of investors throughout the placing and is grateful for the continued support of its shareholders, particularly in what has become a more challenging market environment, in light of recent developments regarding the Omicron variant of Covid-19,” a spokesperson for the investment trust said.
Though Chrysalis’ share price spiked 1.7% shortly after the announcement, by midday it was back down near the previous close of 235p.
The £1.9bn trust currently trades at a discount of 6.7%, according to the Association of Investment Companies.
This month, the Ruffer Investment Company announced it had raised less than a quarter of £167m it was targeting.
See also: Chrysalis managers add to THG position after shares slump by one fifth
