The Association of Investment Companies is to create three new investment trust sectors and merge a range of smaller groups following an independent review.
In March, the AIC will launch the China/Greater China, India and Property - UK Logistics sectors to keep up to date with the industry’s expansion and development.
Ian Sayers, chief executive of the AIC, said: “We do a sector review every two years to ensure our investment company sectors are as helpful as possible for investors.
“These latest changes reflect how our industry has expanded and developed since 2019, with an increasing number of specialist property companies and the growing importance of China and India in equity markets.”
Sayers said the new and revised sectors would help investors compare investment companies with relevant peers and make it easier for them to find what they were looking for.
Property - UK Logistics, the AIC’s eighth property sector, will invest in UK logistics property.
Asset managers and investors have looked towards logistics off the back of the coronavirus crisis and the longer-term structural changes across the sector, such as the shift to online shopping, the importance of delivery capabilities and technological developments.
At the end of 2020, Aberdeen Standard Investments bought a majority stake in logistics specialist Tritax Management to provide expertise in this area.
The China/Greater China sector will invest in the shares of quoted companies in the China or Greater China region, while the India sector will invest in the shares of quoted Indian companies.
The AIC will also merge the three country specialist sectors — Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Europe excluding UK and Latin America — to form a single sector called ‘Country Specialist’.
This sector will include trusts which invest a substantial portion of assets in the shares of quoted companies in up to two countries.
Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific Income sector will be renamed the Asia Pacific Equity Income sector, and its description will be updated to reflect the fact the trusts invest for capital growth as well as income yield.
imogen.tew@ft.com
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