Full details of the AIC's revolutionary sector changes
The AIC has revamped its investment company sectors following an industry-wide consultation. Its new list of sectors and constituents comprises 13 new sectors, 15 renamed sectors and 31 sectors which are unchanged. The sector reorganisation takes effect from Tuesday 28th May 2019.
The changes follow a year-long review of investment company sectors which was overseen by the AIC’s independent statistics committee of brokers, research analysts and data providers. The AIC conducted the review in consultation with its members to ensure its investment company sectors were as clear and helpful as possible for investors.
Several of the new sectors reflect the greater numbers of investment companies investing in alternative assets. The amount of money invested by investment companies in alternative assets has grown by 92% over the past five years, rising from £39.5 billion in 2014 to £75.9 billion in 2019. For example, Sector Specialist: Debt has been separated into three new sectors, Debt – Direct Lending, Debt – Loans & Bonds and Debt – Structured Finance. Similarly, companies in the Property Direct – UK and Property Specialist sectors have been reclassified as Property – UK Commercial, Property – UK Healthcare, Property – UK Residential or Property – Debt.
To accompany the revised list of sectors, the AIC has issued new sector descriptions so investors can easily understand what each sector invests in.
Ian Sayers, Chief Executive of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), said: “We undertook this review to ensure that investment company sectors accurately reflect the shape of the industry today. Recent years have seen significant growth in investment companies investing in alternative assets, such as property, debt and infrastructure and the emergence of new asset classes such as leasing and royalties.
“Our new sectors allow investors to find and compare companies with similar characteristics easily. I’m confident the new sectors will play a useful role in helping inform investors’ decisions.”
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Click here to see all sector descriptions.
