Investment Trust Firecrackers – Did you make it to one of the firework celebrations over the weekend, if not don’t despair I have two firecrackers for you:-

Gresham House
Gresham House IT have recently agreed to acquire 100% of Aitchesse a UK commercial forestry manager with assets under management of around £193M. This is the first for its business platform in its real assets division and given the volatility of global markets this seems to be a shrewd move.
In addition Gresham House has secured bank facilities of approximately £7M with an interest rate of approximately 5.25 per cent per annum.
This deal represents a significant achievement for Gresham House as they continue to develop organically and through acquisitions. This value enhancing acquisition supports their objective of increasing shareholder value through building assets under management to create long term sustainable profits.
There has been a jump in the price of Gresham House since we first covered them, which must have pleased non-exec director Stephen Ackerman who bought 5,000 shares @ 329p and is now sitting on an 8.5% increase in value!

Electra IT
Electra Private Equity IT has been under siege for some time by activist fund Sherborne Investors, which specialises in shaking up companies it considers have performed poorly on the stock market.
Last month, however, the Chairman of Sherborne went public with his ambitions, claiming in an open letter that he could boost Electra’s value by at least £1bn, taking its share price to about £60. It’s a punchy target, given Electra shares closed at £26, down 14p, on Friday.
The tactic has found support amongst Electra shareholders and Sherborne has been successful in getting seats on the Electra board.
The price of Electra has risen whilst this dogfight has been taking place, can it go as high as Sherborne Investors predict ?