£194m compensation pot for UK investors
Investors in the UK who lost money through ill-fated split capital investment trusts were offered a compensation pot totalling £194m (€275m) today.
The long-awaited settlement comes after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) brokered a deal involving 18 firms, including Aberdeen Asset Management.
The contributions were secured to reimburse people who invested in the complex investment vehicles, many of which were advertised as low risk.
Split capital investment trusts had different classes of shareholders, with some investing for income and some for growth. But the sector ran into problems due to stock market falls in 2001 and 2002, high levels of borrowing and large cross-holdings in other splits.
In today’s announcement, the FSA said details of who will qualify for distributions were still being finalised.
