Share buybacks carried out by investment trusts reached a record high in 2023 with 154 portfolios repurchasing £3.9bn, according to data from Winterflood, as discounts continued to widened to levels not seen since the Global Financial Crisis.
At the same time, an increasing number of investment trusts veered towards tender offers, with a total of 28 funds embarking in 47 transactions of the sort, a level not seen since 2019. These had a combined worth of £860m, down from the record £1.2bn of 2020, but nearly double the £580m tendered in 2022. Deep Dive: UK companies lean towards buybacks as trusts weigh discount narrowing efficiency The rationale behind share buybacks stems from investment trust boards' urge to proactively attempt to narrow discounts. At the end of October 2023, the average investment trust discount ...
To continue reading this article...
Join Investment Week for free
Signup and gain exclusive members-only insights - all free of charge!
- Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
- Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
- Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
- Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
- Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes
