Alliance Witan plc, formerly Alliance Trust plc, is a publicly traded

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

and financial services company, established in 1888 and headquartered in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, Scotland. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on ...

. It is one of the largest investment trusts in the UK.

History

The Alliance Trust plc was formed by the 1888

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

of three Dundee-based

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...

and land companies: the Dundee Investment Company, the Dundee Mortgage and Trust Investment Company and the Oregon and Washington Trust (which was set up to provide loans to

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

farmers on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

). Many prominent figures in

invested some of their money in the Alliance Trust and its predecessors, including merchants, ship owners, textile manufacturers and businessman such as Sir John Leng. The company subsequently expanded into other

asset In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can b ...

classes. In 1918 the firm agreed to share premises and other costs with the Western & Hawaiian Investment Company, a mortgage lender which initially focused its business on

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

planters in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

before expanding. Five years later it was renamed The Second Alliance Trust, although no formal merger between the two took place until 2006. The Trusts later moved into

fixed income Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the pr ...

investing in the 1920s and 30s, before adding significant quantities of

shares In financial markets, a share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Sha ...

to their portfolios in the late 1950s. A savings division was established by Alliance Trust in 1986, offering pensions and other

products. A formal merger with The Second Alliance Trust was finally conducted in 2006, as the investment strategies of the two companies had come to closely resemble each other. Legally, the Second Alliance Trust became a private company, wholly owned by the Alliance Trust, and its shareholders became holders of new Alliance Trust shares. The company left its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

of over 90 years, Meadow House in Dundee's Reform Street on 1 June 2009 for a purpose-built facility on 8 West Marketgait in

Dundee City Centre Until the Industrial Revolution, the current City Centre represented the full extent of the City of Dundee, Scotland. Now roughly encircled by the A991 dual carriageway (incorporating the Marketgait), the city centre is now the main shopping a ...

. In 2011, it was reported that

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

Archive Services had become custodians of the Alliance Trust's extensive archives. Following criticism by Elliott Advisors, an activist shareholder,

Katherine Garrett-Cox Katherine Lucy Garrett-Cox (born November 1967) is a British business executive. She is the managing director and CEO of the UK subsidiary for the Gulf International Bank of Bahrain. She was previously CEO of Alliance Trust, a FTSE 250 publicly ...

stood down as Chief Executive and left the company in March 2016. In June 2024, it was announced that Alliance Trust would merge with

Witan Investment Trust Witan Investment Trust plc was a multi-managed, global equity investment trust. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it merged with Alliance Trust in October 2024. History Witan Investment Trust plc (Witan) was established in 1909 t ...

to create Alliance Witan. This would be achieved through the voluntary winding up of Witan Investment Trust. The company formally rebranded itself Alliance Witan on 11 October 2024, and four former directors of Witan were appointed as non-executive directors of Alliance Witan PLC.

Investment strategy

In December 2016, the board announced that the Trust would change its investment philosophy to a multi-manager model in a bid to improve performance. In March 2017, the Trust's shareholders approved the change in approach. The Trust then formally appointed Willis Towers Watson (WTW) as investment manager with effect from 1 April 2017.

Former operations

Alliance Trust Savings purchased

Stocktrade RBC Brewin Dolphin (the trading name for Brewin Dolphin Holdings) is one of the largest British wealth management firms with over 30 offices throughout the UK, Jersey and Ireland, and c. 2,000 employees. It provides investment management and fina ...

from

Brewin Dolphin RBC Brewin Dolphin (the trading name for Brewin Dolphin Holdings) is one of the largest British wealth management firms with over 30 offices throughout the UK, Jersey and Ireland, and c. 2,000 employees. It provides investment management and fina ...

in 2015 and sold it to Embark Group in 2019. Until October 2018, Alliance Trust was the parent company of Alliance Trust Savings Limited, an execution-only

trading platform In finance, an electronic trading platform, also known as an online trading platform, is a computer software program that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. Various financial products ...

. The business was sold to

Interactive Investor interactive investor Limited is a subscription-based online investment service in the United Kingdom, founded in 1995 by the entrepreneur Sherry Coutu. It provides financial information, as well as investment tools. It is the UK's biggest flat ...

for £40m; the sale included the office building at West Marketgait, Dundee.

References

External Links

Official website

Overview page
-

Association of Investment Companies The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) is the United Kingdom trade association for the closed-ended investment company industry. The association represents a broad range of closed-ended investment companies, incorporating investment trusts ...

(aic)
Factsheet
from trustnet.com
Company page
from

Alliance Trust PLC Annual Reports
(2010 to 2023 Annual Reports as of 27 September 2024)
Alliance Trust PLC
Company number SC001731 - information and filings at UK Companies House.
The Second Alliance Trust Limited
Company number SC001284 - information and filings at UK Companies House. {{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1888 Financial services companies of Scotland Investment management companies of the United Kingdom Scottish brands 1888 establishments in Scotland Companies based in Dundee British companies established in 1888 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Publicly traded companies 1888 establishments in the United Kingdom Financial services companies of the United Kingdom Investment trusts of the United Kingdom 2024 mergers and acquisitions Companies in the FTSE 100 Index Asset management companies