Discount Delver: the 10 cheapest trusts on 6 March 2025

Investment trusts offer investors the chance of picking up a potential bargain thanks to their closed-ended structure. Such an opportunity arises 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. Note that this time we have covered the period from 11 to 18 February. 

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. 

3i Group enters the bargain bucket 

A continued slide for 3i Group Ord (LSE:III) has moved its shares to a rare, but small, discount this week. The private equity behemoth is widely known for its stellar returns, its substantial position in European discount retailer Action, and the fact that its shares have tended to command an enormous premium. 

However, softening expectations for Action late last year sent 3i shares into something of a downward spiral, with most of the premium eroding.

They staged a recovery earlier this year but have struggled again more recently, with 3i shares down by more than 11% over the last month. There hasn’t been an obvious trigger for fresh selling, with a 3i update from late January in fact pointing to fairly solid performance from Action. 

It’s also worth noting that, although it still trades on a premium and doesn’t make it into the table, popular spacetech play Seraphim Space Investment Trust Ord (LSE:SSIT) has seen the second-biggest move in valuation this week.

Its premium shrank by 19.2 percentage points to 12.1%, thanks to a positive update showing that its NAV had jumped by a fifth.

From commodities to small caps 

Conflict in the Middle East has upended commodity prices in the last week, with oil surging while the likes of gold, silver and copper struggle. That volatility might explain why two commodity plays, CQS Natural Resources G&I Ord (LSE:CYN) and Riverstone Energy Ord (LSE:RSE), feature in our list. 

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As with the Ukraine war, the Iran conflict has raised questions about energy independence, bolstering the case to invest more in renewables.

That may well explain why trusts such as Greencoat Renewables (LSE:GRP), Bluefield Solar Income Fund (LSE:BSIF) and Foresight Environmental Infra Ord (LSE:FGEN) have actually seen their discounts narrow in the last week. 

A quiet week? 

Equity markets might have had a volatile week but the other trusts in this week’s list have seen their discounts widen without any major news of their own. 

A couple of UK small-cap funds make the cut, in the form of Oryx International Growth Ord (LSE:OIG) and Crystal Amber Ord (LSE:CRS). UK smaller company trusts do feature in our table fairly often, with Crystal Amber, which is in the late stages of a wind down, making regular appearances. 

Private equity trust ICG Enterprise Trust Ord (LSE:ICGT) makes the list this week, as does Baillie Gifford US Growth Ord (LSE:USA) and Nippon Active Value Ord (LSE:NAVF).  

That third fund, which takes an activist approach with smaller companies in Japan, has made huge returns in recent years and outpaces its rival, AVI Japan Opportunity Ord (LSE:AJOT), for the time being. 

Source: Morningstar. From close of trading 26 February to 5 March 2026.