Aviva has been gradually selling stakes in various investment trusts it acquired when it bought Friends Life in 2015. Two went out last year, including Witan, a favourite of this column. Two more exits have just been announced. One is Scottish Investment Trust, in which Aviva has a near-12 per cent stake. The shares are being bought at a 10.75 per cent discount to net asset value and cancelled by the trust. This is a largely positive move for its shareholders, because the way the maths works out is to provide a 1.3 per cent uplift in that net asset value.
Scottish is a bit of an oddity. The trust dates back to 1887 but until a new manager, Alasdair McKinnon, took over a