What is the value of smaller 'orphan' trusts?

By investing only in the largest trusts, investors are ignoring a plethora of funds offering a combination of value and scope for narrowing discounts, says Nick Greenwood, manager of the CF Miton Worldwide Growth investment trust

Investment trusts have always been a highly cyclical corner of the stock market, oscillating between states of feast and famine. There were major new issue booms between 1993 and 1995, and more recently between 2005 and 2008, when about 220 funds saw the light of day for the first time. The more recent generation of investment trusts were hardly given the chance to draw breath before they were overwhelmed by the global financial crisis. At that time, the banking industry became uncertain as to whether their trading partners remained solvent and as a result effectively placed whatever cas...