Alliance Trust takes to the road with raft of radical changes

One of the UK’s oldest investment firms, Alliance Trust, will host a string of “town hall” meetings to promote a shake-up of the trust to its 60,000-strong army of armchair investors.

The 128-year-old group, 65%-owned by retail investors, will kick off the roadshow early next year to win support for an overhaul of how it invests money.

As part of the change, Alliance will sell its fund-management arm, ATI, to Liontrust for £30 million and select eight new firms to run its money to revive returns.

“This is the beginning of a new chapter,” chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin said. “There was criticism in the past that shareholders were not consulted. We thought let’s go to shareholders and say these are the fruits of our labour.”

The Scottish group has laid ambitious plans to double its target for investment returns. A share buyback will also narrow the notoriously steep discount between its share price and basket of stocks.

The change follows a bruising campaign by activists Elliott, which said the change was “an outcome we have long advocated”. Former chief Katherine Garrett-Cox left during the tussle.