Open-ended investment company

An open-ended investment company (abbreviated to OEIC, pron. /ɔɪk/) or investment company with variable capital (abbreviated to ICVC) is a type of open-ended collective investment formed as a corporation under the Open-Ended Investment Company Regulations 2001 in the United Kingdom. The terms "OEIC" and "ICVC" are used interchangeably with different investment managers favouring one over the other. In the UK OEICs are the preferred legal form of new open-ended investment over the older unit trust.

As an open-ended company the manager must create shares when money is invested and redeem shares as requested by shareholders. As with other collective investments, ICVCs' main function is to make money for the shareholders. This is achieved via investing in different asset classes such as equities, fixed-interest investments, and property. By using economies of scale they facilitate access to professional investment management for small investors.

OEICs were developed to be similar to European SICAVs and U.S. mutual funds.

While historically, unit trusts were favoured legal vehicles for investment, in the 1990s it was felt that the UK government should allow a corporate form that could repurchase its own shares without the standard restrictions in the Companies Act. The Open-Ended Investment Companies (Investment Companies with Variable Capital) Regulations 1996 first introduced the OEIC, on 11 November 1996 and in force on 6 January 1997. They were enacted under the European Communities Act 1972 section 2(1) and were therefore known as the "ECA Regulations". The Securities and Investment Board (predecessor to the FCA) regulations, the Financial Services (Open-Ended Investment Companies) Regulations 1997 were approved by the SIB Board on 16 January 1997 and came into effect as from that date. The first commercial OEIC was launched by Threadneedle Asset Management in 1997.

...
Wikipedia