Jonathan Ruffer has halved his stake in his eponymous Ruffer Investment Company months after the firm raked in $1bn from its high-profile bet on bitcoin.
An RNS filing from Friday afternoon showed Ruffer had sold 540,000 shares in the £636.3m investment trust to raise money for charitable initiatives.
Ruffer was not required to disclose the sale, however the trust’s directors felt it was “of interest to shareholders”.
Together with his family, the Ruffer chairman now owns 499,335 shares in the trust worth £1.5m. This represents 0.2% of the company’s shares in issue.
The announcement said he has no intention to sell further shares for the foreseeable future.
The sale comes months after Ruffer’s eponymous boutique revealed it bagged $1bn on its bitcoin investment. The asset manager ploughed £550m into the cryptocurrency last November as a as a long-term uncorrelated portfolio hedge, but sold out in April over fears the asset class was displaying speculative characteristics. The position was held via the Ruffer Investment Company, as well as the Ruffer Multi Strategies fund and two proxy equities.
Over the last year, shares in Ruffer Investment Company have shot up by 30% to a record 305p. The trust was managed by Ruffer himself until 2012 but is now overseen by Hamish Baillie and Duncan MacInnes.
Last year Ruffer’s eponymous boutique reshuffled its executive team as the founder and chairman took a step back from his day-to-day management duties. He still leads the investment team alongside CIO Henry Maxey.
In October, Chris Bacon was appointed as Ruffer’s new chief executive, following Clemmie Vaughan’s decision to not return to the role after her maternity leave.
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