Your vote counts: investment trust AGMs in April 2025

April is a busy month for investment company annual general meetings, with a couple of renewable energy infrastructure trusts that have received takeover bids on the list.

With global stock markets having fallen so far this year thanks to investors repricing US tech stocks, a number of trusts that invest globally are also holding their AGMs.

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Kepler Trust Intelligence highlights some of the key dates to watch in the month below.

Polar Capital Global Financials

One area of the market that has done well has been financials, with higher interest rates boosting the profitability of banks, in particular. When interest rates rise (and stay high), banks’ net interest margins (the difference between the interest a bank earns and the interest it pays out to customers) generally rises.

Polar Capital Global Financials Ord (LSE:PCFT) owns banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Barclays (LSE:BARC) and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) in its top 10, meaning it’s benefited from the rise in their share prices. It also has exposure to different areas of the financials sector, with big positions in Mastercard Inc Class A (NYSE:MA) and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V), the two giants in payment networks.

One key resolution shareholders will be asked to vote on at the AGM is the introduction of an enhanced dividend. PCFT’s board has proposed that from 1 December 2025 it will pay a dividend equivalent to circa 4% of the company’s net asset value (NAV). Shareholders would receive four dividends per year, equivalent to 1% of the company’s NAV, calculated on the last business day of each prior financial quarter.

If approved, dividends would be paid from available revenue and topped up, where necessary, by distributable capital reserves.

BBGI Global Infrastructure

Shareholders of BBGI Global Infrastructure Ord (LSE:BBGI) have a busy month, with a general meeting on 10 April and an AGM on 30 April. BBGI recently agreed to be taken over by Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI).

BCI had offered 147.5p per share, which at the time represented a circa 21% premium to BBGI’s share price, valuing the company at c. £1.06 billion. The final price will be 143.3p per share, to reflect the second interim dividend BBGI paid.

Shareholders get to vote on whether the deal goes through at the general meeting, with BBGI recommending voting in favour of the takeover.

BBGI’s CEO Duncan Ball said that the offer “provides BBGI shareholders with the opportunity to realise the value of their holdings in cash, at an attractive value in excess of the reasonable medium-term prospects for BBGI on a standalone basis”.

Allianz Technology Trust

The fall in mega-cap US technology has been trying for Allianz Technology Trust Ord (LSE:ATT). Shares are down c. 21.5% since early February, as concerns over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, due to come into play on 2 April (the so-called Liberation Day), and high valuations weigh on markets.

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All ATT’s 10 largest holdings are down by more than 14% from their most recent highs, with the smartphone maker Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) holding up best. Shares in the chipmakers NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd ADR (NYSE:TSM) are also down between 25% and 33%.

With Elisabeth Scott stepping down from the board after 10 years with the trust, shareholders will vote to re-elect the rest of the board and to elect Lucy Costa Duarte, who was appointed as non-executive director on 1 January.

David Brenchley is an investment specialist for Kepler Trust Intelligence.