Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 5 December 2025

Investment trusts, due to their closed-ended structure, offer investors the chance of picking up a potential bargain. Such an opportunity arises when a trust’s share price is lower than the underlying investments held by the trust (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 how it invests.   

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In our 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.

Please note that we had to run the data slightly early this week – from 26 November to 3 December.

A decision to abandon the proposed merger of HICL Infrastructure (LSE:HICL)and Renewables Infrastructure Group (LSE:TRIG) has had an influence on this week’s list, with TRIG shares moving to a slightly wider discount on the news.

The initial announcement of the proposed tie-up was widely viewed as good for TRIG but bad for HICL, sending the former’s shares up and the latter’s down. That price movement has moved into reverse now that the merger plan has been scrapped.

With TRIG on a discount of almost 35% and the board having shown an interest in consolidation, analysts have speculated that the trust could now become the target of fresh acquisition activity. One of TRIG’s peers, Ecofin US Renewables Infrastructure (LSE:RNEW), also makes the list.

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Beyond that, plenty of investment trusts with specialist approaches have seen their discounts widen, if without any obvious trigger.

Crystal Amber (LSE:CRS), which is in the process of winding up, appears in the table, having done so a couple of weeks earlier. The UK smaller companies fund recently unveiled plans for a new investment manager to look after its one remaining holding, given that it wants to get the best return for the company and maximise the money it can give back to shareholders.

Sticking with the UK Smaller Companies sector, Onward Opportunities (LSE:ONWD) shares have moved out to a -4.3% discount. The trust, which only launched in 2023, has a very concentrated portfolio including an 11% allocation to Audioboom Group (LSE:BOOM), 9.2% in Angling Direct (LSE:ANG) and 8.9% in Likewise Group (LSE:LIKE). It targets punchy absolute returns of 15% or more a year via a “relationship-based activist strategy”.

Elsewhere, investors have their pick of the specialisms. There’s the Allianz Technology Trust (LSE:ATT), whose shares are on a not insignificant -16.4% discount.

Its top holdings includes some of the usual suspects, from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) on a 10.7% weighting to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM). Our recent in-depth analysis asked how ATT compares with its rival Polar Capital Technology (LSE:PCT) and other popular tech funds.

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Those following the latest Saba drama who like the idea of backing an investment trust activist will be interested to see Achilles Investment Company (LSE:AIC) in the table. The fund, which launched this year, looks to make money via activist manoeuvres on alternative asset investment trusts.

It has previously tussled with Urban Logistics Reit, which was ultimately absorbed by a rival. Investors will be interested to note the appointment of Achilles’ lead manager Robert Naylor to the board of the Life Science REIT  (LSE:LABS) this week. Achilles does not tend to detail its portfolio, something that might prove frustrating for investors, but also keeps its targets in the dark.

Other niche funds make it into the table this week, with little obvious news flow. There’s Schroder BSC Social Impact(LSE:SBSI) and structured debt vehicle Volta Finance (LSE:VTA), among other names.

Outside the table, it’s worth noting that private equity vehicle 3i Group (LSE:III) has continued to see its enormous share price premium recede after a disheartening update from its main holding, discount retailer Action, a few weeks ago. The premium came to less than 6% at the time of writing.

Source: Morningstar. Data from close of trading 26 November to 3 December November 2025.