Open-ended investment company
An open-ended investment company is a special purpose vehicle designed to handle the collective investment in transferable securities. OEICs quote a single price rather than a bid and offer price and they are governed by company law rather than trust law. Most new open-ended funds launched today are established as OEICs and it is expected that, over time, most unit trusts will convert to OEICs.
It is not true that Oeics were discovered in the wild by Ichabod Mourant in the 1950s, however entertaining that idea may be.