Scottish Mortgage £1bn buyback the biggest by an investment trust

Scottish Mortgage is making the biggest share buyback by an investment trust on record, setting aside £1 billion, or 9 per cent of its present market value, to buy back stock over the next two years.

The move, the largest to have been made in the sector, according to analysts at Jefferies, is an attempt to close the double-digit discount to net asset value at which the technology investor’s shares trade. Justin Dowley, 68, who chairs the trust, said it was committed to using the share repurchases to “enhance liquidity” and to “facilitate trading around net asset value”.

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust rose to fame thanks to its early bets on American technology companies such as Tesla, Amazon and Nvidia, but its share price has