Kepler Partners' William Heathcoat Amory: Investment trusts are key targets for a new breed of wealth manager

A new generation

It is common knowledge that wealth managers are consolidating. As significant investors in investment trusts – according to the Association of Investment Companies, wealth managers own 25% (£44bn) of the sector – changes in the space have a notable impact on the investment trust landscape.

As a result, the narrative is they are pulling back from investing in investment trusts, and this is part of the reason that discounts have widened so dramatically across the sector. Consolidation means wealth managers are becoming ever bigger, with last year's merger of Rathbones and Investec Wealth & Investment UK creating a £100bn+ behemoth. Four Graphs explaining the investment trusts worth buying Assets under management of this scale cause challenges for wealth managers looking to invest in investment trusts, particularly those trusts at the smaller end of the market cap spect...