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Private company

Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust

Logo: F&C Investment Trust plc, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

British investment trust

F & C Investment Trust, formerly Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, is a publicly traded investment trust. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index; it is also listed on the New Zealand Exchange.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1868Founded1
  • Industryinvestment management, other credit granting1
  • HeadquartersLondon1
  • Websitewww.fandc.com
  • Legal formprivate company limited by shares1

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Cannon Street Station - geograph.org.uk - 5646573
Photo: N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

F & C Investment Trust,2

The story

The company was founded by Philip Rose, who also founded the Royal Brompton Hospital, in 1868 as The Foreign & Colonial Government Trust: it was the first collective investment scheme in the world and specialised in investing in Government bonds.

In 1891 it changed its name to The Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust: it first started investing in equities in 1925.

In 1981, the company launched Graphite Capital, a leading UK private equity firm.

The company shortened its name from The Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust to F & C Investment Trust in 2018.

From Wikipedia’s article on F & C Investment Trust, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

The company is managed by Paul Niven of Columbia Threadneedle Investments. The current chair is Beatrice Hollond.

From Wikipedia’s article on F & C Investment Trust, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1868Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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