Smith & Williamson Investment Management launches UCITS III version of the Enterprise Fund
25. Jan 2010
Smith & Williamson Investment Management (SWIM) is pleased to confirm that, following shareholder and regulatory approval, the Enterprise Fund became a Dublin-domiciled UCITS III fund with effect from 18th January 2010. It is now a new sub-fund of the Smith & Williamson Investment Funds PLC umbrella company based in Dublin. The fund, which has a UK equity long/short mandate and assets of around £75m has an absolute return mandate.
Commenting on the move, Nick Hodgson, Director of Marketing and Sales at SWIM, said ‘We are delighted to have completed this change of domicile. We recognise that there is considerable interest from professional advisers for UK funds which focus on absolute returns. Enterprise has an established track record and decent asset size. It now offers improved liquidity, transparency and marketability by moving to daily dealing and becoming a UCITS III vehicle.’
Rupert Fleming, a Director of SWIM who has been fund manager for Enterprise since its launch in April 2006, commented 'I have been managing long/short equity funds successfully since 2001. The skill sets required to manage a long/short fund are markedly different from those of a long-only manager, and I am confident that we have a credible, established fund for advisers to consider’.
Smith & Williamson’s Enterprise Fund was formerly domiciled in the Cayman Islands with monthly dealing and two share classes. The fund now has five share classes of which two are designed for UK professional advisers: the C share class for £ institutional deals of more than £100k (0.9% annual management fee and a 20% performance fee with high water mark); and the E share class for retail subscriptions of at least £1k (1.75% AMC and 20% performance fee with high water mark). The E share class will pay trail to authorised intermediaries.
The fund’s A share class (£) is up 52.1% since launch (3rd April 2006) and delivered an annualised return of 11.8% since launch (all figures to 31/12/09, source: Smith & Williamson).
Following the change of domicile, the fund is authorised by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority. It is recognised as a collective investment scheme by the FSA under section 264 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000