JP Morgan Asian in massive share buy-back

JP Morgan Asian Investment Trust is to offer to buy back a quarter of its shares in issue.

Subject to shareholder approval the investment trust will, through Cenkos Securities, offer to buy shares from those shareholders who wish to sell.

The tender price will be the fully diluted cum (i.e. with) income net asset value per ordinary share (inclusive of undistributed revenue reserves) on the calculation date, which is likely to be November 26th, less the direct costs and expenses of the tender offer (including stamp duty and portfolio realisation costs).

JP Morgan Asian Investment Trust does not want to buy back more than 24.99% of the shares in issue and so therefore shareholders who take advantage of the tender offer will be guaranteed the opportunity to offload just under a quarter of their holdings. However, because not all shareholders will tender shares, there will almost certainly be the opportunity for shareholders to sell more than 24.99% of their existing holdings.

The deadline for applications to participate in the tender offer is expected to be November 20th.

The board of the company said it has also decided to reappoint the existing investment manager for the company, JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM).

JPMAM charges a fee based on the market valuation of JP Morgan Asian Investment Trust; it has agreed to reduce this fee from 0.75% to 0.60% per annum. Also, in order to defray a part of the costs that were incurred in the portfolio management transition earlier in the year, and cover other administration expenses, JPMAM has agreed to make an additional one-off contribution to the company's expenses in the amount of 0.35% of the value of the trust's total assets less current liabilities on October 1st, (being an amount equal to over £1.135m).

The notice period for termination of the investment management agreement on the grounds of poor investment performance has been reduced from six months to three months, while the notice period for termination without cause has been halved to six months.

JH