The Allianz Technology Trust will join the FTSE 250 as troubled hospital operator NMC Health gets dropped from the FTSE 100.
The £691.6m investment trust has outperformed wider equity markets during the coronavirus outbreak, falling just 5.5% in the period since the sell-off kicked off on 20 February. In contrast, the FTSE 250 index that it will be joining fell 28.5% over the same period. The trust, managed by San Francisco-based Walter Price (pictured), currently trades at a 0.6% premium, according to the Association of Investment Companies.
Price’s investment trust joins the £2.2bn Polar Technology Trust in the FTSE 250 as well as the £849.1m Herald Investment Trust, which focuses on technology, media and communications but sits in the Global Smaller Companies sector rather than the Technology & Media sector.
Allianz Technology Trust performance (%)
| 1m | 3m | 6m | 1yr | 3yr | 5yr | |
| Allianz Technology Trust PLC | 30.49 | 1.30 | 27.46 | 17.95 | 102.83 | 198.08 |
| FTSE 250 index | 14.71 | -28.08 | -22.03 | -19.27 | -12.64 | 1.33 |
Source: FE Fundinfo
Investment trusts currently account for more than a quarter of FTSE 250 constituents with 68 featuring in the mid-cap index, including Finsbury Growth & Income and the Smithson Investment Trust.
Scottish Mortgage is one of only two investment trusts in the FTSE 100 alongside 3I Group.
FTSE Russell confirmed the move on Wednesday evening and said it would be effective from 27 April.
NMC Health, an Abu Dhabi-headquartered private hospital company, this month went into administration. Its share price had halved since December, when activist investor Muddy Waters raised concerns about its financial statements.
NMC Health had been suspended during the FTSE Russell index review in March meaning it could not be downgraded from the FTSE 100 to the FTSE 250 until it resumed trading. As a result, there had been 101 constituents in the FTSE 100 and 249 in the FTSE 250 until the situation was resolved.
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