In the latest edition of the podcast released this week, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook and winner of the 2024 AIC Best Broadcast Journalist Award is joined by Laura Elkin, lead manager of AEW UK REIT (AEWU), and Maggie Fanari, CEO of RIT Capital (RCP).
Subscribers can see profiles of both RIT Capital Partners (16 April 2025) and AEW UK REIT (05 May 2022).
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273: Laura Elkin and Maggie Fanari
– 0:00:41 – Talking to Laura Elkin, AEW UK REIT
– 0:01:42 – AEWU’s Q1 2025 results
– 0:02:57 – Valuations across the commercial property sector
– 0:04:55 – Asset management and adding value
– 0:12:32 – Raising more capital and issuing new equity
– 0:13:28 – Scope for consolidation in the sector
– 0:17:16 – Risks to continued strong performance
– 0:20:55 – Dividend policy
0:24:53 – A short break
– 0:25:59 – Talking to Maggie Fanari, RIT Capital Partners
– 0:26:18 – How Maggie became CEO of RCP
– 0:27:49 – Characterising RCP’s performance issues
– 0:29:46 – How the brand lost its luster
– 0:33:23 – Reasons for the significant discount
– 0:35:35 – The cost disclosure issue
– 0:38:46 – The driver for reducing private investments
– 0:39:30 – How the operating environment might develop
– 0:42:22 – Characterising performance
– 0:43:11 – The value of the dollar
– 0:44:22 – Lessons from managing a Canadian pension fund
– 0:47:22 – The buyback programme
– 0:49:13 – The RIT Capital offer
0:51:45 – Close
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Disclosures about the editor’s holdings of investment trusts can be found here. Our podcasts are also available on the Association of Investment Companies website (www.theaic.co.uk). The producer of the podcasts is the brilliant Ben Gamblin – more details on him here.