Closed too soon? Ten funds cut down in their prime

Last year over 100 unit trusts were either merged or liquidated as fund management houses sought to clean up their product ranges ahead of the Retail Distribution Review.

A number of fund groups announced plans to focus on ‘core areas' - Aviva Investors, Alliance Trust, and SWIP were among those closing down funds which had proved unpopular with investors. The vast majority of funds liquidated or merged last year underperformed the average fund return in their respective sector over one-, three- and five-year time frames. For instance, the average return of the 15 funds closed last year in the IMA Global sector over three years was 0.11%, well below the sector average return of 30.11%, according to Lipper. However, Lipper data compiled for Investmen...