The World Trust Fund

Searching out discounted assets globally

25 September 2015

The World Trust Fund (WTR) invests globally in a mix of closed-end funds (35.7% at 31 August), investment trusts (39.2%) and holding companies (27.3%) chosen for their discounted assets and potential for capital appreciation. The managers seek to identify catalysts for re-rating and will also engage actively with holdings to boost long-term shareholder value. Benchmarked against the MSCI AC World Index, the portfolio is heavily underweight the US (which the managers see as broadly overvalued) and overweight emerging markets. Performance over one year has been strong versus the benchmark, but has suffered in the recent global sell-off, and the discount expansion of its underlying investments. A new dividend policy was introduced in FY15 and WTR has a 1.4% yield. MORE »

Harvesting value from NAV discounts

19 December 2014

The World Trust Fund (WTR) aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of closed-end investment and holding companies whose shares trade at a discount to the underlying net asset value. The focus on identifying unwarranted discounts and detailed work validating the quality of assets and managers makes for a differentiated offering. The underlying average discount of portfolio holdings is over 19% compared with an average discount for UK investment trusts of under 4%, suggesting scope to crystallise value over time through corporate action or shifts in market sentiment. MORE »