AVI Global Trust (ticker: AGT) was founded in 1889 and has been managed by Asset Value Investors (AVI) for the last four decades, over which time it has returned 11.3% per year. Joe Bauernfreund has acted as its lead manager since 2015. AGT seeks to buy quality companies trading at a discount to their net assets, and it holds a concentrated portfolio of closed-ended funds and European/Asian family-run holding companies, recently increasing its exposure towards Korea. Its portfolio looks very different from most other global trusts, tilted away from the US and with a much smaller average market...
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Lindsell Train Investment Trust (ticker: LTI) was launched in 2001 and is run by Nick Train. It holds a concentrated global portfolio of quality-focused equities, plus around a quarter of the shares of Lindsell Train Limited, the management firm for all of Lindsell Train's funds. The latter initially made up only a small proportion of net assets, but as Lindsell Train's funds under management soared to over £20bn, it grew to represent nearly half of the trust's portfolio, and LTI's shares traded at a substantial premium to NAV in anticipation of further asset growth. The shares peaked at £20 i...
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Franklin Global Trust (ticker: FRGT) was launched in 1999 as Martin Currie Portfolio. Initially, it had a significant UK equity bias, but since 2011, it has been managed as a global equity trust. Zehrid Osmani became the lead manager in 2019, taking over from Tom Walker, who had looked after the portfolio since 2000. Osmani is focused on quality growth and ESG, and the portfolio moved from around 50 positions to a more concentrated level of around 30. It outperformed in the years ending January 2020 and 2021, but has underperformed significantly since then, partly thanks to being underweight t...
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After being listed for around a decade in the 1970s, Manchester & London (MNL) rejoined the market in 1997. The Sheppard family has held a controlling interest for much of the trust's existence and now owns nearly 60% of the shares, a stake worth around £160m. Mark Sheppard took over as lead manager from his father around 2013 and soon after reinvented the trust's investment philosophy, moving away from value and into high-growth technology stocks. The portfolio has always been very concentrated but has become even more so in the last few years with Sheppard honing in on AI as the key them...
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Mid Wynd International (MWY) was listed in 1981 although it can trace its corporate roots back to the 18th century. It has been a global equity trust equity for the last four decades, managed by Baillie Gifford up to 2014 and then Artemis for nearly a decade before the team of Louis Florentin-Lee and Barnaby Wilson at Lazard took over in October 2023. The trust still runs a fairly concentrated portfolio but it now has more of a quality/low-turnover style bias. MWY performed very well under Artemis and its tight discount control policy saw its share count grow from 22.5m to 66m. The team at Laz...
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Scottish Mortgage (ticker: SMT) was founded in 1909 and has been managed by Baillie Gifford throughout its existence. For the last several decades, it has been one of the largest trusts on the London market, surpassing £100m in assets in the late 1960s, £1bn in the early 1990s, and £10bn in 2020. SMT was managed by Max Ward during the 1990s and then by James Anderson from 2000 to 2022. The current managers are Tom Slater, who has worked on the trust since 2009 and was co-manager from 2015 onwards, and Lawrence Burns, who joined in 2021. Anderson was key in developing the trust's current focus ...
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Bankers Investment Trust (ticker: BNKR) was launched in 1888 and has been managed by Janus Henderson, under various guises, since 1970. Alex Crooke has been the trust's lead manager since 2003. Bankers has long had a large, diversified global equity portfolio but has historically been overweight the UK market and underweight the US. While this tilt has been significantly reduced in recent years, it has hampered recent performance relative to both world markets and other global trusts. Over the last twenty years under Crooke, Bankers boasts a small lead over global markets with an annualised NA...
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Witan Investment Trust (ticker: WTAN) was launched in 1909 to manage the assets of the Henderson family and it was listed on the London market in 1924. Henderson Administration (now part of Janus Henderson) was formed to run the trust's portfolio in the 1930s, a state of affairs that continued until 2004 at which time Witan decided to become self-managed and started using a multi-manager approach. Today, Witan has six managers devoted to its core strategies, two with more specialised mandates, and also picks a range of trusts itself. Andrew Bell became Witan's CEO in 2010 and James Hart has be...
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Brunner Investment Trust (ticker: BUT) was launched in 1927 by the Brunner family and they remain involved today with a 29% stake and a seat on the board. Allianz and its predecessor firms have managed the trust for several decades although there have been a number of changes at the fund manager level in recent years. The current team, led by Christian Schneider and Julian Brown, has been in charge since July 2022. Brunner runs a concentrated portfolio of around 60 stocks looking for quality and growth characteristics combined with reasonable valuations. It is much more UK-weighted than other ...
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Alliance Trust (ticker: ATST) was launched in 1888 and was combined with a similar vehicle, The Second Alliance Trust, in 2006. A decade later, following a protracted battle with Elliott, an activist US hedge fund, Alliance got rid of its executive directors, sold off its share dealing and investment businesses, and appointed Willis Towers Watson to be its investment adviser. Willis Towers Watson uses several different managers, asking them to select up to 20 of their best investment ideas. Alliance then blends these into a style-neutral portfolio of around 200 stocks that is designed to never...
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