Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 1 May 2026

Investment trusts offer a potential bargain thanks to their closed-ended structure. That happens when a trust’s share price is lower than the value of its underlying investments (the net asset value, or NAV).         

However, a trust trading on a discount to NAV is not necessarily a buying opportunity. There’s likely a good reason why the trust is cheap, such as subdued short- or long-term performance, or poor investor sentiment towards it.        

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In this weekly series, interactive investor highlights the 10 biggest investment trust discount moves over the past week.      

In total, nearly 400 investment trusts have been screened, with the data sourced from Morningstar. Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) have been excluded. We also strip out trusts with less than £30 million in assets and those that are not available on the interactive investor platform.  

From writedowns to IPOs 

It’s an odd mix of trusts in this week’s table, with just a couple of obvious triggers for discount widening. 

To start with those, the concentrated US equity fund and Bill Ackman vehicle Pershing Square Holdings Ord (LSE:PSH) has seen its already wide discount advance slightly.  

The fund has struggled in 2026 anyway but it’s notable that this week a US fund run by the same firm, Pershing Square USA, had its initial public offering (IPO), raising around $5 billion (£3.7 billion). 

That was less than some expected but shareholders in the UK-listed investment trust should enjoy lower charges, thanks to an agreement that the trust’s performance fees fall by an amount equal to 20% of any management fees earned by certain other funds run by the investment manager, including this new US one. 

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We, meanwhile, see Aquila European Renewables Ord (LSE:AERI) in the table once again. A renewables fund already in wind down, this week it upset investors further with the announcement that “challenging” conditions had led it to write down the value of its unsold assets by around a third.  

As troubled as funds in this sector are, the illiquid nature of their assets and the difficulties they have faced mean that any wind-down could be a lengthy affair. 

More wind-downs, commodities and healthcare 

Trusts already busy winding down often appear in our table, even if discount widening sometimes relates to oddities of the process.  

This week we duly see a handful of wind-down candidates, from the Aquila fund to Digital 9 Infrastructure Ord (LSE:DGI9) and abrdn European Logistics Income PLC (LSE:ASLI), make an appearance. The latter two have not seen any major developments in the last week. 

We also see names from both the healthcare and commodities space experience some discount widening, in the form of Polar Capital Global Healthcare Ord (LSE:PCGH), RTW Biotech Opportunities Ord (LSE:RTW), Riverstone Energy Ord (LSE:RSE) and Geiger Counter Ord (LSE:GCL). 

Once again there hasn’t been much idiosyncratic news. RTW Biotech Opportunities did release its 2025 results but these broadly seemed to bring positive tidings (including strong returns) rather than anything that might blow out the discount. 

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We also see a couple of struggling names in the list.  

In the UK equity income space, there’s CT UK High Income Ord (LSE:CHI), which has seen its shares slip in April even as all its closed-ended rivals have made gains.  

And once again we see an appearance from 3i Group Ord (LSE:III), the private equity star that has fallen on more trying times since late 2025.

Currency shifts

A name that we exclude from the table but that has had a very extreme move, at least on paper, is the high-yielding Fair Oaks Income 2021 Ord (LSE:FAIR).  

Its discount appears to have moved out to around 90% - but this could well be a mathematical quirk related to the fact that shareholders have voted to change its reporting and dividend currency from US dollars to euros.  

The trust has also opted to lower its dividend to a base quarterly target of €1. 

The board had worried that the previous dividend level could limit the investment team’s flexibility “to make investment decisions consistent with the objective of delivering attractive long-term shareholder returns”. 

Source: Morningstar, close of trading 23 April to 30 April 2026.