You couldn't miss Marechale Capital (AIM:MAC) this week, with shares in the London corporate finance boutique more than doubling after it unveiled plans to acquire three businesses in one go.
The targets are Stanford Capital Partners, a UK SME-focused broker; Blubird Global, an asset tokenisation platform with over $32 billion on its registry; and NJC Capital, an alternative investment fund.
Together, they are meant to turn Marechale into what it calls a fully integrated digital merchant bank spanning corporate finance, capital markets and asset management across both traditional and digital markets.
The deals are share-for-share swaps at 1.75p, conditional on shareholder approval on 22 June, and the company has raised £1.06 million from existing and new institutional investors to fund the push.
Management says it expects the acquisitions to be earnings-enhancing this financial year.
Turning to the wider market, the AIM All-Share took a pause for breath, retreating 1.4% to 808 as it underperformed the top stocks index this week, which stood pat.
Brain cancer test delivers a landmark result
Imaging Biometrics Ltd (LSE:IBAI, FRA:5Y1) shot up 54% on Friday after telling the market that a major US clinical trial has validated its IB Neuro brain imaging platform as a tool for predicting survival in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat forms of brain cancer.
The commercial appeal is straightforward: bevacizumab, the drug being assessed, is expensive and does not work for everyone, yet clinicians currently have no reliable early signal of whether it is working.
IB Neuro, the company argues, could provide that signal within weeks.
Poolbeg finds a new fan club
Sticking with healthcare, Poolbeg Pharma PLC (AIM:POLB, OTC:POLBF, FRA:POLBF), up 49%, has found a new fan club. And no wonder.
In POLB 001 it has a potential game-changer that tackles cytokine release syndrome (CRS), the dangerous inflammatory overreaction that occurs when the immune system goes into overdrive following the latest generation of cancer treatments.
If it eventually receives the regulatory green light, it could become a significant seller, and investor excitement is being mirrored by enthusiasm within the industry itself.
Distil shares jumped 45% after the drinks company agreed to convert a £3 million loan note into a 10.5% equity stake in Ardgowan Distillery, netting £425,000 in cash and rent waivers in the process.
The market liked what it saw from Boohoo, the online retailer now trading as Debenhams, which reported materially stronger profitability and cash generation in a trading update, sending the stock up 35%.
Portmeirion cracks under the strain
Portmeirion (AIM:PMP) was the week's biggest faller, shares crashing 45%, which tells you everything you need to know about the state of the ceramics group's balance sheet right now.
It raised £17 million by placing 34 million new shares at 50p, with directors chipping in £250,000, and a retail offer to raise a further £2 million is also planned, subject to shareholder approval on 23 June.
It was another difficult week for holders of Litigation Capital Management Ltd (AIM:LIT), which fell a further 28% amid balance sheet worries and adverse findings in legal cases it has backed.
Good news, wrong result
There's an old stock market adage that it's better to travel than to arrive, and so it proved for ITM Power PLC (AIM:ITM) this week.
Up 160% since January, the shares fell 20% after the hydrogen electrolyser maker announced a strategic partnership with Protium Green Solutions to develop industrial-scale green hydrogen plants across the UK, starting with a 15 megawatt project in Cromarty, Scotland.
Good news, in other words, but apparently not good enough.
The deal that woke up the solar sector
And finally, the agreed £548 million takeover of Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd (LSE:BSIF, FRA:5B3) by Drax Group has done something the sector has been waiting years for.
It has put a credible private market price tag on a listed renewable energy fund at a moment when the whole sector has been languishing at bargain-basement valuations.
The bid landed as funds like NextEnergy Solar and Foresight Solar were sitting at yawning discounts to net asset value, the legacy of rising interest rates since 2022 eroding the relative appeal of yield-generating infrastructure.
Both rose on the news, with Cavendish arguing the two funds, whose portfolios most closely resemble Bluefield's in their concentration of ROC-backed UK solar assets, stood to benefit most from the valuation signal the deal provides.
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust, Greencoat UK Wind and The Renewables Infrastructure Group also caught a lift, though all remain at substantial discounts, illustrating how much ground still needs to be recovered.
Perhaps the most encouraging element is Drax's stated rationale: up to £2 billion of planned renewable investment by 2031, suggesting well-capitalised energy companies are willing to pay private market prices for assets the public market has persistently undervalued.
