Despite remaining positive on the £1.3bn Syncona investment trust, experts are questioning its place on the interactive investor’s ethical buy list, the ii ACE 40, following the platform’s decision to place it under formal review.
Kathleen Gallagher 13 August 2021 • 3 min read
In the year to 11 August the trust has lost 16.1%, while the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) Biotechnology and Healthcare sector has returned 8%.
The premium has also narrowed significantly from around 30% at the end of January to 10%, according to FE fundinfo.
The interactive investor list is designed to offer “the whole spectrum” of investments and aims to “be suitable for all investors”.
The list is continuously monitored for performance and other major change, according to the firm.
James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, said the trust should not be ruled out yet, but questions why it was placed on the ii’s list in the first place.
“It holds some potentially incredibly exciting investments, but this was always going to be a long-term story – it takes multiple years to get a treatment through pre-clinical and clinical trials,” he explained.
“I think I would question why it was on the list in the first place since for most of the past five years it has traded on a very high premium to asset value.”
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