Who killed Liontrust's ESG IPO?
Somewhere in the investment trust world a cork is popping. Closed ended funds raised an enormous 6.3bn in the first six months of 2021, setting a new record. Some 1.2bn of this came from investment trust initial public offerings (IPOs), the highest amount raised since the first half of 2017 and in keeping with a broader mania for stockmarket flotations. With markets riding high and investor sentiment looking resilient, there have seemingly been few better times to bring an investment trust to market. Yet of several trusts that have successfully floated this year, one name has been conspicuously absent. On 2 July it was announced that the highly anticipated Liontrust ESG Trust IPO would not go ahead after its fundraising failed to hit a 100m target.