Appointment of a new investment manager

RNS Number : 8303F

Mid Wynd Inter Inv Trust PLC

30 April 2014

 

30 April 2014

Mid Wynd International Investment Trust PLC (the "Company")

Announcement of the appointment of a new investment manager

Introduction

The Board of Mid Wynd International Investment Trust PLC announces the appointment of a new investment manager (the "Appointment").

Background to the Appointment

The Company aims to meet its objective of achieving capital and income growth through investment principally in a portfolio of international quoted equities. The Directors believe that the approach of focusing on companies capable of generating significant growth combined with a stable and rising level of income is what the overwhelming majority of shareholders are seeking.

In view of the retirement of the incumbent investment manager, Michael MacPhee, who has managed the Company for over 15 years, the Board has undertaken a thorough process to review available investment management options to the Company. As a result, the Board has agreed to appoint Artemis Investment Management LLP ("Artemis") as the Company's investment manager, effective 1 May 2014.

The Board wishes Michael well in his retirement and thanks Baillie Gifford & Co ("Baillie Gifford") for their management and secretarial services to the Company since it floated in 1981. As at 30 June 1982, the portfolio was worth £3.28m. As at 28 April 2014 it was worth £76.21m, near to an all time high. That could not have been achieved without considerable skill and foresight in devising over the years an investment strategy and selecting appropriate stocks to navigate the Company through the crash of 1987, the exit from the ERM, the hazards of the dotcom boom and the extraordinary conditions of the credit crunch.

New Investment Manager

The Board has appointed Artemis as the new manager of the Company in place of Baillie Gifford. Artemis is an independent asset manager established in 1997, with £17.7bn of assets under management (as at 31 March 2014, Source: Artemis). This is spread across a range of 15 unit trusts, an existing investment trust, a hedge fund, a venture capital trust and both pooled and segregated institutional portfolios.

The Company will be managed on a day-to-day basis by the Artemis Global Select Team, comprising Simon Edelsten, Alex Illingworth and Rosanna Burcheri. As at 31 March 2014, the Artemis Global Select Team managed in excess of US$600m including the Artemis Global Select Fund.

The Artemis Global Select strategy focuses on a concentrated portfolio of high quality companies that stand to benefit from stable growth trends. Investment decisions are based on a fundamental, bottom-up process with intensive accounts-based analysis driving stock selection. The strategy is benchmark agnostic and is focused on real returns with a capital protective bias.

The track record for the Artemis Global Select Composite strategy is as set out below:

	YTD (%)	2013 (%)	2012 (%)	2011 (%)	Since inception (% p.a.)
Artemis Global Select Composite	(0.8)	21.9	16.0	(6.4)	10.4
MSCI AC World Index	0.4	20.5	11.0	(8.6)	7.8
Difference	(1.2)	+1.4	+5.0	+2.2	+2.6

Source: Artemis as at 31 March 2014

Transition to Artemis

The Company has terminated its investment management agreement with Baillie Gifford effective 30 April 2014. Baillie Gifford is entitled to receive the management fee under the existing management agreement to this date. Baillie Gifford shall continue in its role as the Company's secretary during a transitional period following which Artemis shall be appointed to provide the Company with secretarial services on substantially the same terms as Baillie Gifford. Baillie Gifford has waived any termination fee. 

The Company will necessarily incur certain costs, predominantly those associated with transfer of management control over the portfolio from Baillie Gifford to Artemis. The Board, Baillie Gifford and Artemis will work together to ensure that any transition costs are kept to a minimum.

Artemis will take over the investment management for the Company effective 1 May 2014 under the terms of a new management agreement. The commercial terms of this agreement are substantially the same as those with Baillie Gifford with the management fee unchanged at 0.5% of NAV per annum, but the notice period is reduced from 12 to 6 months.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Board will continue to aim to limit the discount of the share price to the NAV per share to a maximum of 2% in normal circumstances (using a cum-income NAV with debt priced at fair value). This will continue to be done using the Company's authority to buy back its own shares, subject to obtaining shareholder approval for this authority in future periods, as required.

Enquiries:

Mid Wynd International Investment Trust PLC (via J.P. Morgan Cazenove)                          020 7742 4000

Richard Burns, Chairman

Via: William Simmonds/Oliver Kenyon

Artemis Investment Management LLP                                                                                                   020 7399 6000

Simon Edelsten

J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Corporate Broker)                                                                                           020 7742 4000

William Simmonds

Oliver Kenyon

Biographies of Artemis Portfolio Managers

Simon Edelsten (Portfolio Manager) graduated from Trinity College, Oxford and joined Phillips & Drew in 1985. In 1997 he moved to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson as head of European equity sales. From there he joined Taube Hodson Stonex (THS) in 2001, where in a five-man team he had joint responsibility for global equities and saw funds under management grow from £2.5 billion to £11.5 billion. Simon left THS in 2010. He joined Artemis in May 2011 to launch and manage the Artemis Global Select Fund.

Alex Illingworth (Portfolio Manager) began his career at Rothschild Asset Management, managing its global funds, after graduating from Durham. In 2003 Alex was appointed director of global equity at Insight Investment and managed three product lines; global long only, global ethical and global absolute return. Alex joined Artemis in May 2011 to manage the Artemis Global Select Fund.

Rosanna Burcheri (Portfolio Manager) joined Paribas Asset Management as a junior fund manager after graduating from Bocconi University in 1996. In 2000, she moved to M&G as a fund manager and director with responsibilities for pan-European equity portfolios, before joining Shell Pension Management Service in 2004 as a senior European portfolio manager. Here she managed a variety of pension portfolios totalling £710m of assets. Rosanna then became a partner and pan-European fund manager for FrontPoint Management (UK) LLP in March 2006. She joined Artemis in October 2011 to manage the Artemis Global Select Fund.

 

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