Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust


Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust is a publicly traded investment trust. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index; it is also listed on the New Zealand Exchange.

History

The company was founded by Philip Rose, who also founded the Royal Brompton Hospital, in 1868 as The Foreign & Colonial Government Trust: it was the first collective investment scheme in the world and specialised in investing in Government bonds. In 1891 it changed its name to The Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust: it first started investing in equities in 1925. In 1981, F&C launched Graphite Capital, a leading UK private equity firm.

Operations

The company has assets under management of approximately £3.7 billion and holds stakes in over 500 different companies in 35 countries worldwide. The company is managed by Paul Niven of F&C Asset Management.