Bestinvest says
The manager has one of strongest long term track records across the industry. Whilst managing his previous Financial Opportunities mandate he made some astute asset allocation decisions which successfully protected investors capital going into the credit crisis and subsequently captured part of the rebound in prices.
The Fund invests in a global portfolio of equities, equity related securities (including derivatives), cash, near cash, fixed interest securities, currency exchange transactions, index linked securities, money market instruments (MMIs) and deposits. At times the portfolio may be concentrated in any one or a combination of such assets and, as well as holding physical long positions the manager may create synthetic long and short positions through derivatives. The manager's intention is that returns will be less volatile than stock market indices, although this cannot be guaranteed.
The ability to short using derivatives means that the manager can take advantage of perceived over-valuations and aim to protect capital when financial stocks are falling. It is hoped that the smaller size of the Financial Opportunities fund should provide more flexibility to deal in smaller cap financials.
The manager performs company research and analysis, focusing on quality of earnings. Concentrated portfolios are often formed with the manager reducing position size as shares approach fair value. Positions will generally be in large and mid-cap companies. Ideas are generated from 1) Company meetings 2) Internal Jupiter analysts 3) Other fund managers 4) Stockbroker sales & research 5) Media & conferences. The manager applies a top-down approach firstly identifying macro themes with stocks then being found to fit these themes.
The manager has significant investments in the absolute return vehicles.