Investment Management

The Company’s investments are managed by PARL, a company established in 2000. PARL’s ultimate parent is PMIB, the holding company for an independent financial services group set up in 1992. PMIB’s fund management activities are carried on by the Progressive Group whose subsidiaries include PARL and its parent, PVML.

PARL supports the Code for Responsibilities of Institutional Investors issued by the Institutional Shareholders' Committee in November 2009, in particular the requirement that institutional shareholders should monitor the performance of investee companies and back this up by direct intervention where appropriate. Progressive Group's compliance statement with the Stewardship Code is published on its website:

http://www.pro-asset.com/downloads/stewardship/PAML_Stewardship_Policy_10_12.pdf.

 

PARL is not prohibited under the Investment Management Agreement from providing investment management services to other investment funds or clients with investment objectives and policies which are similar to those of the Company. However, it is the Investment Manager’s policy in managing or advising on its clients’ portfolios, to do so on a consistent basis, so far as circumstances allow, and to ensure that all clients are treated fairly.

 

The Company's investment portfolio and assets are managed by Robert Legget and Simon Toynbee. Robert is the managing director of PVML, PARL's parent company, and Simon is a director of PAML, PVML's parent company.

 

Robert Legget joined PVML in April 2000 from Quayle Munro Holdings PLC, an independent Edinburgh-based investment bank, where he had been a main board director. From 1986 until 1991 he was responsible for Quayle Munro’s management of East of Scotland Industrial Investments PLC, an investment company which specialised in making direct unquoted investments. From 1991 he was a corporate finance director of Quayle Munro’s merchant banking subsidiary, responsible for certain merger and acquisition and private equity transactions. His responsibilities included the controlled realisation of the investments of a number of venture capital funds for the benefit of the investors in such funds, predominantly institutions. He retired from a non-executive directorship of F&C Private Equity Trust plc in May 2009. He has been involved in the management of all four of the previous investment companies managed by PARL/PVML as well as the management of Lupus Capital plc during a re-organisation of that company.

 

Simon Toynbee joined PVML in 1999. Between 1995 and 1999 he was the Senior Investment Manager of the International General Investment Trust, Majedie Investments PLC. Prior to this he worked at Mercury Fund Managers as the Unit Trust Investment Director. He has extensive experience from several other positions including the London Discount Market between 1966 and 1972, then as an investment manager at Singer & Friedlander, and from 1982 to 1990 at Henderson Administration where he was closely involved with managing pension funds. He has been involved in the management of Advance Value Realisation Company Limited, Second Advance Value Realisation Company Limited, Third Advance Value Realisation Company Limited and the Company.

 

Further details on Progressive Asset Management can be found on www.pro-asset.com