The board of high-yielding Invesco Bond Income Plus (BIPS ) has announced a fundraising for investors as it hopes to tap into demand from former shareholders of Henderson Diversified Income (HDIV ).  

Writing in a stock exchange notice, chair Tim Scholefield said shares would be issued at a 0.75% premium to the net asset value at close on 5 February, which represents an opportunity for investors to get in at a price below the 1.5% premium at which the investment company closed on Tuesday. The placing to institutional investors and retail offer to private investors will be capped at £15m. 

He added that the winding up of HDIV, which merged with Henderson High Income (HHI ) this month, would see about £54m returned to shareholders who might want to maintain their high yield exposure.

The largest debt fund in its sector with net assets of £305m, BIPS was one of the few company’s to issue shares last year, with 7.4m sold, as it traded on a premium of 1.5% on average. 

However, it has underperformed its sector over the last 12-month period.

Managers Rhys Davies and Edward Craven have grown the underlying value of the portfolio by 8.4% over one year, while its shares are up 8.1%, according to Morningstar. The Association of Investment Companies Debt - Loans & Bonds sector averages a 10.7% net asset value return, while average share price return was 9.3%. 

Scholefield highlighted that the managers have significant experience and are committed to providing shareholders with an income of 11.5p per share, a 6.8% yield.

The retail offer will be undertaken via the Winterflood Retail Access Platform (WRAP) and opens today with a close at 2pm on 7 February.

In 2023, the portfolio of largely non-investment grade investments delivered NAV total returns of 12% while the shares gained 11%, according to the December factsheet.