Existing trusts raised £575 million through secondary fundraising in the six months to June, up from £221m in the same period last year. A further £742m of shares were reissued from treasury, although no new investment trust IPOs took place.

Seraphim Space Investment Trust led fundraising with £137m, followed by TwentyFour Income Fund, which raised £98m, and Invesco Bond Income Plus with £85m.

Corporate activity remained brisk, with three mergers, three acquisitions and six liquidations completed during the period. That compares with two mergers, four acquisitions and 11 liquidations in the first half of 2025.

Share buybacks totalled £4.1 billion, down 14% from £4.77bn a year earlier, while several trusts also returned capital through sizeable tender offers.

Investment trusts generated an average return of 9.4% over the six-month period, led by the technology and technology innovation sector. Average discounts narrowed from 12.3% at the start of the year to 11.6%, briefly falling into single digits during May for the first time since 2022.

Richard Stone, chief executive of the AIC, said fundraising had strengthened despite continued geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, while the decline in liquidations and narrower discounts pointed to improving investor sentiment across the sector.