After 17 years running CT Global Managed Portfolio, Peter Hewitt handed over to Paul Green and Adam Morris last June. The pair have reshaped the trust's Income and Growth portfolios, particularly the latter, and plan to reduce the number of holdings in each share class from 40 to around 30. Here, we look at the various trusts that they have bought and sold, and how their selections might help investors think about their own portfolio construction.
CT Global Managed Portfolio was listed in April 2008, just as the financial crisis was unfolding, but it can trace its roots to the F&C managed...
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TR Property (TRY) was launched in 1905 and has been a specialist property investor since 1982. It widened its focus to quoted European property companies in the early 2000s although it continues to invest in some physical property, too. Marcus Phayre-Mudge took over as lead manager in 2011 although his involvement with the trust dates back to the late 1990s. The trust's management firm has seen several changes and it is currently Columbia Threadneedle but there has been a continuity of personnel looking after the portfolio for the last three decades with Chris Turner acting as lead manager fro...
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CT Private Equity (ticker: CTPE) was set up in 1999 to take on around £100m of unquoted assets from the Martin Currie-managed Scottish Eastern Investment Trust. After a couple of share reorganisations, the management team moved from Martin Currie to F&C in 2005 (F&C was subsequently taken over by BMO and then Columbia Threadneedle). Hamish Mair has looked after the portfolio since 1999 through all its various incarnations. CTPE was one of many private equity trusts that saw its share price savaged during the financial crisis on concerns about the high level of fund commitments and the ...
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Balanced Commercial Property Trust (ticker: BCPT) was launched in 2005 raising around £735m of equity and £230m of debt to buy a portfolio of around 30 UK commercial properties. Since its IPO, it has been run by Richard Kirby and it is now part of the Columbia Threadneedle stable. After paying a 6.0p per share dividend from 2006 through to 2019, albeit only partly covered by earnings, COVID led to a short-term dip in rents received so the payout was cut by more than half to 2.85p in 2020. As rental collection recovered, the dividend rose to 4.25p in 2021 and then 4.7p in 2022, being fully cove...
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Global Smaller Companies Trust (ticker: GSCT) was launched in 1889. Formerly managed by F&C and then BMO, it is now part of the stable of trusts run by Columbia Threadneedle. Peter Ewins has been its lead manager since 2005. GSCT has a highly diversified portfolio with nearly 200 direct holdings in UK, North American, and European smaller companies plus several funds for exposure to Japan and the Rest of the World. The portfolio is somewhat tilted towards the UK, although less so than it has been in previous years, and the trust uses a blended benchmark that is 20% UK and 80% global ex-UK....
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F&C Investment Trust (ticker: FCIT) was the first investment company to be launched in 1868. Originally set up to invest in overseas government securities, over several decades it gradually branched out into corporate debt and then equities. Today it is one of the largest global equity trusts, with assets of over £5bn and a 51-year record of increasing its dividend. F&C has around 400 individual holdings, spread over ten strategies, with 13% of its assets in private companies. The trust uses some external managers for its US holdings and private equity positions but around 60% of its p...
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