Record fundraising year for investment trusts as AUM hits all-time high

Five mergers completed

Investment trusts raised a record £14.8bn through IPOs and secondary issuances in 2021 (as of 14 December) leading industry assets to hit an all-time high of £277.6bn at the end of November, according to figures from the Association of Investment Companies.

The fundraising record far exceeds the previous one, which was set in 2014, of £10.2bn. Of the new money raised this year £3.8bn was through IPOs, which totalled 16 for the year at time of writing. The £11.1bn raised by existing investment companies as also a record with the previous high being £7.4bn raised in 2019. The Renewable Energy Infrastructure sector raised the most of any other sector by far, with £3.4bn in new money flowing into the 21-strong AIC sector, £874m of which went toward six IPOs. This was followed by the Infrastructure and Growth Capital sectors, which raised ...