Undeterred by the recent postponement of its small cap Buffettology investment trust, asset manager Sanford DeLand’s chief investment officer Keith Ashworth-Lord says he is looking closely at launching a new global equities fund.
Speaking on the Shares/AJ Bell Money & Markets podcast, Ashworth-Lord says his flagship CFP SDL UK Buffettology fund - which has been a top quartile performer for the past one, three and five years - has 5.5% of its assets in overseas-listed stocks via two holdings: pest control group Rollins and Warren Buffett’s investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway. He says it could go higher and have more overseas interests, but he believes the opportunity is best served through a different fund.
‘Buffettology is listed in the IA UK All Companies sector and that says 80% of our net asset value has to be in UK equities. It is a UK fund,’ comments Ashworth-Lord.
‘We are going to plan a global Buffettology fund. This methodology we use crosses borders. The fact that we found Rollins and it is now one of the top 10 in the (UK) fund proves we can do it overseas. The global fund would be a better vehicle for doing that sort of thing.’
He adds: ‘It was planned to be launched this year, but we shelved it in favour of going for the investment trust as that seemed like a product more suited to the markets we were in.’
Sanford DeLand had hoped to launch the Buffettology Smaller Companies investment trust as a way of investing in companies that were too small to be considered for the UK Buffettology fund.
The initial response to the marketing of the product was positive, says Ashworth-Lord. Unfortunately, tighter lockdown restrictions caused investors to become concerned short-term about the prospects for UK smaller companies, meaning orders for the investment trust were pulled by prospective investors. ‘We were the victims of what happened with the Government with lockdown mark 2,’ he adds.
Listen to the interview with Ashworth-Lord via the link below to get the full story. It starts at 15:12.
