Introduction
The debate over closed-ended and open-ended funds has become much more of a live issue, as several funds have had to be gated, because of liquidity issues.
In some instances it was because the fund manager had invested heavily in illiquid stocks, such as Neil Woodford, or a particular asset - namely property - was having a hard time and investors wanted out.
Many in the closed-ended sector have argued that these problems would not have happened in an in vestment trust, as investors can by and sell shares in the trust on a daily basis.
But closed-ended itself is not without drawbacks itself - the value of the shares of the investment trust vary depending as much on market sentiment as on the value of the underlying assets.
In this guide, we attempt to set out some of the main issues relating to closed-ended and open-ended and draw out some of the arguments both for and against.
This guide is worth an indicative 60 minutes.
