Invesco Global Equity Income Trust Plc - Publication of Circular

21 January 2026

INVESCO GLOBAL EQUITY INCOME TRUST PLC

LEI: 549300JZQ39WJPD7U596

 

Publication of Circular

Further to the announcement on 13 November 2025, the Board is pleased to confirm that Invesco Global Equity Income Trust plc ("IGET" or the "Company") has today published a circular (the "Circular") regarding the proposed Merger with Franklin Global Trust plc ("FRGT"). IGET will be the continuing company following the Merger.

Under the terms of the Merger, FRGT Shareholders will have the option of rolling over their investment in FRGT into IGET, receiving cash or a combination of the two. IGET will issue New Shares to FRGT Shareholders electing for the Rollover Option, and IGET will receive, in exchange, assets from FRGT to the same value.

All defined terms used herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Circular.

Benefits of the Merger

The Board recognise the benefits of increased scale to the Company and Shareholders and has been looking for corporate opportunities to grow the Company. The Merger allows the Company to increase significantly in size, with net assets of around £465 million (compared to around £290 million today) (depending on cash elections by FRGT Shareholders) and bring in an attractive and long-term base of new investors.

The Board believes this will benefit Shareholders as follows:

• With greater scale, the Enlarged Company is expected to appeal to a broader range of investors, which should create additional demand for its Shares, and result in higher trading volumes and market liquidity, compared to IGET historically.
• Shareholders will also benefit from the increase in IGET's size through a reduction in the blended rate of the investment management fee payable to Invesco and by spreading its fixed costs over a larger asset base, resulting in a lower ongoing charges ratio.
• FRGT Shareholders who do not wish to be invested in IGET are able to realise their investment in FRGT by electing for the Cash Option, which your Board believes will reduce the risk of a stock overhang in the Shares, and resultant potential downward pressure on the Share price, as a consequence of the Merger.

Invesco has agreed to make a significant contribution towards the costs of the Merger equivalent to twelve months' management fee on the value of the assets to be transferred from FRGT to the Company. This should benefit Existing Shareholders as it is expected to cover or exceed the Company's costs of implementing the Merger. FRGT will bear its own costs.

The Board considers the Merger to be an exciting opportunity for the Company to grow in a low-risk manner. The investment mandates of the Company and FRGT are similar, with both companies offering a well-diversified portfolio of global equities with a high conviction investment approach and can be a core holding in an investment portfolio. After the Merger is completed, the Enlarged Company will continue to operate with the same investment mandate, investment management arrangements and operational procedures currently in place for IGET. Specifically, the Enlarged Company will continue with IGET's distinct and multi-award-winning investment strategy under the management of Stephen Anness and Joe Dowling at Invesco, with the assets transferred from FRGT being invested in accordance with that strategy.

Sue Inglis, Chair, said: "The last 20 months have been transformational for IGET. Since the restructuring in May 2024, the share price has moved from a discount of -13.0% to consistently trading at a premium to NAV and net assets have increased by c.47% to c.£290m through a combination of strong performance and frequent share issuance.

The merger with Franklin Global Trust is another major development, with IGET as the continuing, but substantially larger and more liquid, company.   There will be no changes to IGET's distinct and multi-award-winning investment strategy, which has proven to be scalable. Therefore, the significant increase in IGET's size following the merger is not expected to compromise its ability to continue to deliver strong performance over the long-term."

Implementing the Proposals

The Merger is conditional on, amongst other things, Shareholders approving the issue of the New Shares. The Board are also seeking Shareholder approval to renew the Company's Share issuance and buy-back authorities, last renewed at the 2025 AGM, to reflect the considerably larger issued share capital of the Enlarged Company following completion of the Merger.

The Circular will shortly be available on the Company website, https://www.invesco.com/uk/en/investment-trusts/invesco-global-equity-income-trust.html and will be filed and available for inspection at the National Storage Mechanism, https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism .

Invesco Explainer Document

Following the introduction of new rules on 19 January 2026, the Company is not required to publish a prospectus in connection with the Merger.   Invesco has prepared an explainer document which provides a summary of the proposals for the benefit of FRGT Shareholders, which is available at https://www.invesco.com/content/dam/invesco/uk/en/product-documents/investment-trust/fund/other-documents/invesco-global-equity-income-trust-plc_explainer-document_en-uk.pdf

Live Webinar

Stephen Anness, IGET's lead fund manager and Invesco's Head of Global Equities, will be participating in a live webinar, hosted by Invesco, on 27 January 2026 at 14.30 GMT. To register your attendance please visit https://digital.invesco.com/IGET/Webinar . Stephen will share how his team's flexible, high-conviction stock-picking approach continues to uncover compelling opportunities across the world's equity markets.

Expected Timetable

 

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