Alliance Trust plc is a publicly traded

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

and financial services company, established in 1888 and headquartered in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Scotland. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...

. 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 companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of three Dundee-based

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions 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 to raise funds for any pu ...

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 natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

farmers on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, 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 U.S ...

). 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 accountancy, 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 ...

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, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

planters in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

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 prin ...

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

shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...

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. The company left its

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

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. 8 West Marketgait, Dundee

In 2011, it was reported that

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

Archive Services had become custodians of the Alliance Trust's extensive archives. Following criticism by

Elliott Advisors Elliott Investment Management is an American investment management firm. It is also one of the largest activist investor, activist funds in the world. It is the management affiliate of American hedge funds Elliott Associates L.P. and Elliott I ...

, an activist shareholder,

Katherine Garrett-Cox Katherine Lucy Garrett-Cox CBE (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 The ...

stood down as Chief Executive and left the company in March 2016.

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

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 c ...

. The business was sold to

Interactive Investor interactive investor is a subscription-based online investment service in the United Kingdom, founded in 1995. It provides financial information, as well as investment tools. It is the UK's biggest flat-fee investment platform, with () £59 bill ...

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

References

{{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