2nd Mar 2020 11:16
(Alliance News) - Honeycomb Investment Trust PLC on Monday said its relationship with investment manager Pollen Street Capital has been "extremely positive" after negative comments from Pollen Street Secured Lending PLC.
Robert Sharpe, chair of Honeycomb Investment Trust, said: "I find some of the accusations very hard to believe, as they do not at all reflect the Honeycomb board's relationship with or experience."
On Tuesday last week, Pollen Street Secured Lending - which invests in credit assets from non-bank lending platforms - gave 12 months' notice to terminate its investment management agreement with PSC Credit, part of Pollen Street Capital, over its handling of a 900 pence per share cash offer from funds advised by Waterfall Asset Management LLC.
Pollen Street Secured Lending's view was that the manager had not provided all requested information and documentation "to allow the board to make its own proper assessment of what due diligence materials to pass on to the potential offeror."
In response, PSC Credit contested that the offeror's due diligence request document was "unusually extensive" for a public takeover offer and raised concerns about sharing such sensitive information with Waterfall.
In PSC Credit's view, the sharing of such information breached confidentially provisions and would leave Waterfall "in possession of highly confidential information".
Pollen Street Secured Lending believes there is "a position of conflict of interest" regarding the offer. It also cited "a number of other serious governance issues" with PSC Credit, such as its publishing of information about the company's dividend without the knowledge or permission of the board.
Honeycomb Investment Trust's Sharpe sided with Pollen Street Capital. "The team at [Pollen Street Capital] has managed Honeycomb since the company's inception in December 2015. Throughout the whole of that period my experience is that the team has acted at all times with absolute integrity, and good governance. Pollen Street's interaction with the board has been transparent and collaborative and they, like us, have always been focused on managing the company in the best interests of its shareholders," he said.
Sharpe added that he had "full confidence" in Pollen Street Capital.
Honeycomb Investment Trust shares in London were down 1.6% at 905.00 pence each on Monday morning.
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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