Boussard & Gavaudan Holding Ltd on Tuesday said its half-year loss narrowed on reduced expenses, as it reaffirmed its commitment to an ‘orderly’ managed wind-down.

The Guernsey-based closed-ended investment company said net asset value per Class A EUR share was €26.7749 on June 30, down from €27.7693 on December 31. For Class A GBP stock, NAV declined to £23.7249 per share from £24.4264.

BGHL shares were untraded at €23.70 each in London on Wednesday. They last traded on Tuesday.

Pretax loss for the first half of 2023 was €12.3 million, compared with €12.4 million a year previous. Total loss before expenses widened to €9.4 million from €9.3 million.

Total expenses decreased 7.0% to €2.9 million from €3.1 million. Administrative fees increased 27% to €97,791 from €77,233, but all other costs decreased, including management fees, which fell by 5.6% to €2.5 million from €2.7 million.

BGHL reaffirmed its intention to vote on the proposed managed wind-down of the company, which it had first announced on July 24. The proposals will be presented to shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on September 28, immediately following the annual general meeting on the same date.

BGHL reassured shareholders that approval of the wind-down will not result in its immediate liquidation, as it intends to work with Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP to ‘effect an orderly realisation’ of its underlying assets, ‘in a manner consistent with the liquidity’ of its portfolio.

BGHL expects to complete this realisation by the end of next year, at which point the net proceeds will be distributed to shareholders.

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