Monthly Round Up: a Saba solution, is investing skill or luck and how we fared in the tariff sell off

Join Jo Groves, Ryan Lightfoot-Aminoff and David Brenchley from Kepler Trust Intelligence for a roundup of all the news that matters to investment trust investors in April, brought to you in association with Schroders.

Ryan looks at the news, including details of a solution from Saba and ESCT, plus tender offers elsewhere from Baillie Gifford, as well as the implications of a ‘hostile’ approach for Fidelity Japan (FJV).

Sticking with the land of the rising sun, we also look at Schroder Japan’s interim results following their new dividend policy, before David provides an update on ORIT and how some capital recycling has helped the trust’s debt profile, as well as showing the upside potential of the trust…

Next, Jo brings us the highlights of her conversation with Charlotte Morris of Pantheon International, and how private equity managers can generate consistent returns over the long term.

This then brings us onto David section on skill vs luck in active management, and what can help managers tilt the odds in their favour over the long-term, using Ashoka India (AIE) as a prime example.

Next up, David runs through the most bought and sold shares and trusts with UK investors in March, to get insights into how domestic investors were allocating their portfolios ahead of the Liberation Day announcements.

Speaking of which, Jo then talks through how her own portfolio did in the aftermath of Trump’s announcement, and whether her portfolio has managed to weather the storm or not…

00:07 Introduction

00:25 Saba’s solution with ESCT

01:29 PHI’s new tender offer

02:31 Fidelity Japan’s (FJV) beauty parade

03:36 Results for Schroder Japan Growth (SJG)

04:56 Results for Octopus Renewable Infrastructure (ORIT)

07:19 ORIT’s David Bird outlook

08:42 Charlotte Morris of PINT talks private equity

10:20 Luck vs skill in active management

11:44 Most bought and sold

13:02 Jo’s personal portfolio after Liberation Day

14:27 Risk warning

 

Special thanks to our sponsors at Schroders, whose support makes this podcast possible.

 

This podcast was recording on 06/05/2025.