181: Weekly Investment Trusts Podcast - with Gaurav Narain and John Baron (21 Oct 2023)

In this week's edition of the Weekly Investment Trust Podcast, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook, speaks to Gaurav Narain, investment advisor at India Capital Growth Trust (IGC) and John Baron, columnist for the Investors' Chronicle. Jonathan attended this year's AIC Investment Trust Showcase and had the opportunity to speak to a number of fund managers. A bonus podcast will be released next week featuring a number of these short chats. Make sure you're subscribed to be alerted when that is released! We are grateful for the support of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which enables us to keep the podcast free. Section Timestamps: 00:44 - Review of the week 02:41 - This week's guest 03:51 - News and announcements 17:45 - Summary of results 18:52 - Money Makers Circle 19:36 - A nice story 20:48 - Q&A with Gaurav Narain 21:28 - The macro picture for India 28:46 - The trust's strategy and portfolio 34:58 - The outlook for the trust 40:12 - Q&A with John Baron 41:02 - Advice to private investors in down cycles 43:53 - Will the alternative assets sector shrink? 48:04 - The basis for trust fees 49:26 - The experience of directors 49:55 - Close Trusts mentioned this week (with tickers): India Capital Growth (IGC), Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG), Round Hill Music Royalty Fund (RHM), Abrdn Asia Focus (AAS), MIGO Opportunities (MIGO), Pantheon International (PIN), Digital 9 Infrastructure (DGI9), RM Infrastructure Income (RMII), Harmony Energy Income (HEIT), Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF), Gresham House Energy Storage (GRID), Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust (APEO), Phoenix Spree Deutschland (PSDL), Vietnam Holdings (VNH), Mercantile (MERC), AEW UK REIT (AEWU), Seraphim Space (SSIT), Tufton Oceanic Assets (SHIP), HICL Infrastructure (HICL), JLEN Environmental Assets Group (JLEN), Triple Point Energy Transition (TENT), GCP Asset Backed Income (GABI), Abrdn Diversified Income and Growth (ADIG). If you enjoy the weekly podcast, you may also find value in joining The Money Makers circle. This is a membership scheme that offers listeners to the podcast an opportunity, in return for a modest monthly or annual subscription, to receive additional premium content, including interviews, performance data, market/portfolio reviews and regular extracts from the editor's notebook. This week, as well as the regular features, the Circle features a profile of City of London (CTY). Future profiles coming soon include Pacific Assets Trust (PAC) and Brunner Investment Trust (BUT). For more information about the Money Makers circle, please visit money-makers.co/membership-join. Membership helps to cover the cost of producing the weekly investment trust podcast, which will continue to be free. We are very grateful for your continued support and the enthusiastic response to our over 180 podcasts since launch. You can find more information, including relevant disclosures, at www.money-makers.co. Please note that this podcast is provided for educational purposes only and nothing you hear should be considered as investment advice. Our podcasts are also available on the Association of Investment Companies website, www.theaic.co.uk. Produced by Ben Gamblin.