US Bids and IPOs light up Stewardship

The bid for SLM, one of the largest holdings in the ethical Stewardship International Fund, managed by F&C's Sophie Horsfall, has seen the company's share price sky rocket 35 per cent since the end of last month.

According to Horsfall this is one of the few financial companies she can hold owing to Stewardship's strict ethical screening process.

Horsfall said: "We have held SLM for several years now and started investing whilst it was still in its former guise as Sallie Mae, one of the US Government's sponsored enterprises. The company, which specialises in educational lending, changed its name when it became independent in 2004.

"SLM has been the subject of a $25bn offer at $60 a share from a group comprising JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and two private equity bidders which has pushed the company's share price up from $40.90 at the end of March to $55.31 a share on Wednesday. Whilst we are losing one of the few companies in which we can invest in the financial sector, we are doing research into areas such as micro finance, in which we hope to invest soon."

Horsfall also participated in the IPO of Comverge Inc, a leading provider of clean energy solutions.

"Comverge aims to improve grid reliability and enable utilities to increase available electric capacity through reduced energy consumption at peak energy demand periods on a more cost effective basis than conventional alternatives, "said Horsfall.

Comverge which listed in the US on Friday at $18, closed on Wednesday at $22.80, a 27 per cent increase.

"This business model is proving increasingly important in the US, particularly in metropolitan areas which over recent years have suffered from widespread blackouts. US grid reliability is poor and investment in electric infrastructure has lagged increasing demand needs. Comverge offers a solution for improving reliability and reducing the amount of energy needed – and using less energy is perhaps the cleanest energy of all!" added Horsfall.

Horsfall said the IPO was very oversubscribed, proof of the attractive long term investment opportunities in alternative energy and alternative energy technology.

"We added to our holding in the aftermarket, which has taken our position up to 40 basis points," she concluded.