The outlook for investment trusts remains strong this year, as high fundraising and narrowing discounts continued despite ongoing macro volatility, according to recent data from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC).
Richard Stone, chief executive of the AIC, said: “While the [investment trust] sector remains exposed, as ever, to geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, strong fundraising by several popular investment trusts gives us good reason to be optimistic about the future.”
In total, investment trusts had nearly doubled their secondary fundraising in the first half of this year, with around £575m raised compared to £221m in the first half of 2025.
The largest share of this came from Seraphim Space Investment Trust, which raised £137m as excitement over space economy stocks reached a fever pitch with the SpaceX IPO.
This interest in Seraphim was paired with its strong performance, with the trust up 56.5% as of 6 July, as data from the AIC showed last week. Meanwhile, the average investment trust generated a 9.4% total return over the first six months of the year, according to AIC data.
See also: AIC: Tech dominates trust performance in H1 2026
However, it was not the only trust to attract significant fund-raising attention this year. Two trusts in the fixed income space, Twenty Four Income fund and Invesco Bond Income Plus, raised more than £80m each.
Year-to-date, both funds have performed well compared to their average sector peers. The TwentyFour fund is up 2.62% year to date, while the average peer in the IT debt and structured finance sector was down 2.8%. Meanwhile, Invesco Bond Income Plus was up 3.3% year-to-date, versus an average sector peer of 1.6% in the IT debt loans and bonds sector.
Discounts continued to narrow, with the average discount sliding to 11.6% from 12.3%, even briefly sliding into the single digits in May, according to the AIC.
Meanwhile, many investment trusts continued their efforts to be more shareholder friendly this year. Six companies changed fees to more heavily benefit shareholders, according to the AIC’s data.
On top of this, three companies: Impax Environmental Markets, BlackRock Smaller Companies and Vietnam Enterprise Investments issued large tender offers.
The biggest of the bunch was Impax at £733m, compared to BlackRock and Vietnam’s £163m and £147m.
Meanwhile, mergers and acquisitions continued at a steady pace, according to the AIC. Some high-profile examples included the merger of BlackRock Smaller Companies and Throgmorton Trust, the Aberdeen Equity Income and Shires Income merger and the Invesco Global Equity Income and Franklin Global Trust combinations.
See also: Two BlackRock small-cap trusts to merge
More are still set to come this year, with the Pacific Asset Trust set to merge with Schroder Asian Total Return in the fourth quarter.
Three investment trusts were acquired by other groups this year: Life Science REIT, Augmentum Fintech and Amedeo Air Four Plus. Bluefield Solar Income is also currently being acquired, contingent on shareholder approval.
That said, there were some blemishes for the investment trust industry so far this year. Share buybacks declined to £4.1bn versus the first half of 2025’s £4.77bn (down roughly 14%).
However, the AIC’s Stone noted that while buybacks have subsided, they are still “historically high” compared to normal.
There was also a handful of liquidations this year. For example, Premier Miton’s Diverse Income trust announced liquidation in February, while Smithson Investment trust had announced it would roll over into an open-ended structure to address its “entrenched discount” following engagement with shareholder Saba Capital.
See also: £1.6bn Smithson to ditch investment trust status for OEIC structure
Other trusts which liquidated this year included the Abrdn Diversified Income and Growth Trust, the Starwood European Real Estate Finance Trust, PRS REIT and Doric Nimrod Air Three.
Finally, six trusts have switched hands this year. These included the £919m Murray Income Trust coming under the control of the Artemis UK team in March, now managed by Adrian Frost, Andy Marsh and Nick Shenton.
Other trusts to be acquired by different teams included Bellevue Healthcare Trust (Now CT Healthcare Trust), Aquila Energy Efficiency Trust (now Parvus Energy Efficiency Trust), Crysal Amber Fund and Chelverton’s The Investment Company.
See also: Baker Steel appointed investment manager of Golden Prospect Precious Metals
