Henderson Alternative Strategies Trust (HAST, formerly Henderson Value Trust) has been reconstructed into a portfolio of specialist and alternative funds. The managers have focused on private equity, hedge funds, property and specialist sector and geographical funds that individual investors are unable or unlikely to access. The aim is to achieve returns in excess of those from global equities on a three-year view, but with limited correlation to equity markets. The reconstruction is beginning to show through in performance, and over 12 months the trust has outperformed its informal composite benchmark and the FTSE All-Share. The discount remains wide at c 19%, reflecting a difficult history and a climate of investor risk aversion, but has scope to narrow should the performance upturn be sustained.
