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Questor is The Telegraph’s stockpicking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest.

The pre-Budget scare over capital gains tax continues to weigh on some investment trusts. Majedie Investments, a diversified global fund offering an alternative to artificial intelligence-obsessed markets, trades on a 16pc discount after being sold by worried investors before the Chancellor’s debut Budget in October.

At £125m, Majedie is a smaller version of £2.9bn rival RIT Capital Partners, the Rothschild-backed fund whose shares have risen 12pc since we restored our recommendation in April, after an unusual period of poor performance saw them trail 28pc below the value of its investments.

Like RIT Capital Partners, Majedie is backed by a dynasty. The Barlow family, who originally made their money in Malaysian rubber plantations, owns over half the shares. Launched in 1910, the company was named after a plantation and, after gradually switching to financial assets, it became an investment trust in 1985.

Similarly, where RIT Capital Partners owns its fund manager J Rothschild Capital Management, Majedie has a 7.5pc stake in Marylebone Partners, which was appointed to run its investments two years ago.

Reflecting their shared interest in preserving generational wealth, both companies measure their performance against inflation. RIT Capital seeks to beat the consumer prices index by 3pc a year, Majedie by 4pc a year over rolling five-year periods.

The significance of these benchmarks is not that the funds will consistently deliver 3pc-4pc over the cost of living. It’s more that they seek to hold a wide range of investments that, when combined, should over time produce a positive real return – regardless of stock market conditions.

Consequently, both use networks of contacts to find esoteric investments in funds and companies that are inaccessible to ordinary investors.

Where Majedie differs is that it sticks to public stock markets and avoids the unquoted investments that make up a third of RIT Capital.

Dan Higgins, chief investment officer of Marylebone, describes the firm’s approach as “liquid endowment”, modelled on US university pension funds which pioneered the use of long-term, high-return investments.

However, Marylebone, which Mr Higgins founded in 2013, eschews real estate and private equity, saying they can be hard to sell and value when markets are troubled. Instead, it shifted its portfolio into three main buckets after taking it on in January last year.

The largest, accounting for 58pc of assets, goes to external niche fund managers. For example, it has 6pc in Contrarian Emerging Markets Fund, whose US-based credit team scours the world for opportunities in corporate debt.