Odyssean IT bets on surge in M&A among UK equities

Half-year results

The Odyssean investment trust has predicted a resurgence in merger and acquisition activity will drive performance over the next 18-24 months, as overseas firms look to take advantage of the depressed sentiment to UK equities.

The trust, managed by Odyssean Capital, invests in a concentrated portfolio of companies typically too small for inclusion in the FTSE 250, avoiding companies where M&A is "less likely" and businesses that are "unlikely to be coveted by alternative owners to public market investors". In the trust's half year report for the six months to 30 September, the board said that historically the trust's net asset value performance has been a beneficiary of M&A, with ten completed takeovers of portfolio companies since 2018, 70% of which were executed by trade buyers and 60% executed by overseas b...