Demand for renewables and alternatives pushed Gresham House’s assets under management (AUM) to £7.3bn in the first six months of the year, despite muted flows into its open-ended funds.
The specialist boutique’s AUM was 11% higher at the end of June from its £6.5bn starting point at the end of December 2021.
Following this “strong and resilient performance”, its adjusted operating profit and margin is expected to be “at least in line with market expectations” ahead of its formal interim results and full-year statement.
The £800m increase in AUM was driven by a flurry of fundraises where it exceeded targets.
Gresham House Energy Storage fund (Grid), its listed utility-scale battery energy storage fund, raised £150m via a share placing that was “significantly oversubscribed”.
During the period, Gresham House Forestry also attracted £75m from institutional clients, while its pair of affordable housing funds raked in £80m worth of commitments.
More investors allocating toward specialist alternatives
Gresham House said the pipeline of indicated commitments “continues to be strong” in H2 as more money is allocated toward specialist alternative strategies.
“It’s pleasing to see Gresham House continuing to deliver excellent performance,” chief executive Tony Dalwood (pictured) said.
“With several fundraising initiatives underway across our divisions, and a growing international presence, Gresham House is well positioned for the second half of 2022 to continue growing the business in line with our strategy.”
Gresham ‘pleased’ by £70m Oeic inflows in tough backdrop
Its open-ended equity funds, by contrast, only managed to rake in a combined £70m during the period.
The trio of Oeics in its stable are all UK-focused, the largest being the £280.2m Gresham UK Multi Cap Income fund, which tripled in size last year.
This was matched by its five-strong range of Baronsmead and Mobeus VCTs, which reached their maximum fundraising targets in Q1.
However, the company said it was “pleased” with the result given the strong macroeconomic headwinds and lower stock market valuations.
International expansion
Dalwood said the group had continued its international expansion. In March, it acquired Burlington Real Estate, an Irish independent commercial property asset and development management company for €1.8m (£1.5m).
Elsewhere it acquired £49m worth of New Zealand forestry and carbon credit assets for an institutional client.
In addition to pushing into new markets, Gresham House has redeployed capital from its balance sheet into strategic investments, including the development of battery energy storage and renewable energy projects.
The exclusive pipeline will be sold to Grid once certain targets are met.
See also: Gresham House Energy Storage seeks international flavour for investment strategy
