Pressure grows on providers to offer 'unique strategies' for future equity trust launches

Investment trust providers need to have strong reasons to justify launching new closed-ended funds with equity mandates, as the sector becomes increasingly dominated by alternatives vehicles, according to Numis Securities.

There have been few trust launches in the equity space in recent years, with the 12 IPOs between 2013 and 2015 raising £1.65bn; a fifth of the total (including secondary issuance). These figures may also be considered skewed as Woodford Patient Capital trust raised £800m during the period, making it the largest ever investment trust IPO on the London Stock Exchange. But in its report Investment Company IPOs - Lessons from History, Numis said: "The success of the launch is very much an exception and reflects the high profile of Neil Woodford, rather than the attractiveness of the manda...