Investment trust launches: This year's hits and misses

Stephen Peters, investment trust analyst at Charles Stanley, looks at some of the winners and losers among this year's new funds.

According to recent research by Numis, £1.4bn of fresh capital into the closed-ended fund sector has been raised in the first half of 2011. This is around a third less than in the same period of 2010, although last year saw the launch of Anthony Bolton’s Chinese Special Situations fund. The biggest launch this year to date has been Neuberger Berman’s Global Floating Rate Income fund, raising £310m. With many concerned about incipient inflation, secured loan funds such as the NB offering are perhaps not surprisingly being an investment in vogue. One of the very few ways for investors seek...