The £82m Schroder British Opportunities Trust has proposed changing its mandate to focus entirely on private equity.
In a stock exchange announcement this morning, the trust’s board said that much of the positive performance since IPO in 2020 has been generated by the private markets portion of its portfolio.
In contrast, the directors said that public equity investments have detracted from the trust’s overall NAV performance, with the board and investment manager believing that private equity “offers a better opportunity set in the current environment”.
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As of last week (11 March), 23.5% of the portfolio was made up of public equity, compared to 70.0% in private markets and 6.5% held in cash.
Co-managers Tim Creed and Peraveenan Sriharan will remain in charge of the portfolio, while Uzo Ekwue has stepped down.
Schroder British Opportunities currently trades at a 37.8% discount to NAV, according to the AIC.
Meanwhile, the investment trust’s board wants to bring forward its 2028 continuation vote to the first quarter of 2027 to provide clarity on the vehicle’s future, while allowing time for the transition to a fully private equity-focused portfolio to take place.