FAQs | European Assets Trust update

European Assets Trust PLC (“EAT”) Combination with The European Smaller Companies Trust PLC (“ESCT”)

The Board of European Assets Trust PLC announced proposals to combine with The European Smaller Companies Trust PLC on 9 September 2025.

The combination proposals were approved by shareholders at the two General Meetings held in October 2025.

We’ve answered some common questions about how this affects you if you held EAT within a CT Savings Plan. If your question is not answered here, please get in touch using the contact information included on this page.

What was proposed?

On 23 June 2025, the Board of EAT announced that it had reached agreement in principle with ESCT in respect of a proposed combination of EAT with ESCT and a voluntary winding up of EAT.

On 9 September, shareholders were written to, including CT Savings Plan holders, to give them the details of the proposals, their opportunity to vote and what would happen if they were approved.

More details of the Proposals can be found in the Circular

Why was this proposed?

What were the options for my EAT shares under the Proposals?

Rollover Option – Receive New ESCT shares (this was the default action and you didn’t need to return an election form to arrange this)

Cash Option – Receive cash for some or all of your EAT shares (limited to 15% of issued share capital). To select the Cash Option, you had to send us a valid form of election before 1 October 2025. Matured CTF holders were not permitted to elect for the Cash Option – the Rollover Option was their default.

Who are ESCT?

What are the next steps following approval of the Proposals?

EAT is being formally wound up. More details on the Liquidators that were appointed and their contact details can be found at europeanassetstrust.co.uk
ESCT shares or cash (if you elected the Cash Option) have been credited to your CT Savings Plan.
ESCT shares can only be held temporarily within the CT Savings Plans as this fund is not an investment option.
We’ve written to you to let you know the proposals were approved, how many ESCT shares or cash you received in exchange for your EAT shares and the options open to the plan type you hold.
You need to let us know what you would like to do with the ESCT shares that you now hold/and or cash elected for by 14 January 2026.

I selected the Rollover Option, how many ESCT shares did I receive?

The number of new ESCT shares issued to eligible EAT shareholders was calculated based on an ESCT FAV per Share of 231.734700 pence and an EAT Rollover FAV per Share of 99.285552 pence, producing a conversion ratio of approximately 0.428444 ESCT shares per EAT share.

We’ve written to you to confirm the amount of ESCT shares you hold within your CT Savings Plan and the options available to you.

I selected the Cash Option, how much cash did I receive for my EAT shares?

You received 97.036985 pence in cash for each EAT share previously held. This cash has been applied to your account, and we’ve written to you to confirm the amount received and the options you may wish to take with this cash. CT Savings Plan holders received their requests for cash entitlements in full – scaling back was not applied.

If Cash Sweep is active on your CT Savings Plan, the cash credited may be automatically reinvested into your nominated fund. You can change your Cash Sweep settings at ctinvest.co.uk/login or by calling 0345 600 3030.

What is Cash Sweep?

Cash Sweep is an optional facility that was recently introduced to allow plan holders to invest cash held on their account (except plans with Legacy Features and Matured Child Trust Funds) into a fund you nominate. If this feature has been activated by you, then any cash balance held in an account will be automatically invested monthly on the 15^th (or the next business date) into the fund that has been nominated.

What options apply to CT Savings Plan Holders?

The options available to you are dependent on the type of CT Savings Plan held. We’ve written to you outlining the options open to the plan you hold – copies of the letters applicable to the plan type held and whether you received ESCT shares and or cash as part of the proposals can be found here.

However, you do not need to wait for receipt of this mailing if there is action that you want to take. It is possible to transact on any cash or ESCT shares in your account.

What action do you need to take and by when?

ESCT is not an investment option within the CT Savings Plans and so these shares can only be held temporarily to allow you to decide what you wish to do with them.

You need to let us know what action you would like us to take with the ESCT shares/and or cash that has been applied to your CT Savings Plans by 14 January 2026.

If you haven’t advised us by this date, we will automatically sell the ESCT shares and credit the cash to the CT Savings Plan which does not earn interest.

What will happen to any monthly contribution that used to be invested into EAT?

Monthly contributions previously invested into EAT are still being collected until the earlier of: –

receipt of further instructions from you, or
up to and including the contribution on 1 January 2026.

These will be treated as follows: –

If EAT was your nominated fund and no Cash Sweep is active, funds will remain in cash pending an instruction from you.

If you have Cash Sweep active on your plan, the funds from your Direct Debit will be used to buy shares in that nominated fund. You should still let us know if you would like us to change future monthly collections into this fund or your Direct Debit will be reduced.

Will I be able to increase or decrease my ESCT holding?

Are there tax implications for the Rollover and Cash options?

If you held your EAT shares in a tax efficient wrapper such as an ISA, LISA, Junior ISA or CTF you won’t need to consider the taxation element of the options. However, you may need to consider the tax implications if EAT shares were held within a General Investment Account or Junior Investment Account depending on your circumstances.

If you elected for the Cash Option – this is expected to be treated as a disposal for capital gains tax purposes.

If you received the Rollover Option (new ESCT shares) – this was not treated as a disposal when rolled over, but tax may apply if the ESCT shares are sold in the future.

The tax implications vary so if you have any queries on the tax treatment, we suggest you take professional advice from your financial adviser.

What will happen to the ESCT shares I hold if I don’t let you know what to do with them by 14 January 2026?

If you don’t let us know what to do with the ESCT shares you hold by 14 January 2026, we will automatically sell your ESCT shares and credit the proceeds as cash to your account.

Interest will not be earned on this cash meaning this sum will reduce over time because we’ll deduct the relevant annual charge due to us from this cash unless you have instructed us to collect this charge by Direct Debit.

I would like to keep the ESCT shares I’ve received how do I do this?

I have more questions about how this impacts my CT Savings Plan, who do I contact?