Fundsmith has registered a long/short fund with US authorities for Terry Smith’s personal wealth as he repositions out of low-yielding bonds.
The Fundsmith Long/Short fund is described in documents on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website as a pooled investment that would be available to external investors with a minimum $100,000 to invest. It is not marked as a hedge fund.
But Fundsmith said in a statement the fund is not being marketed to external investors. “The fund has been set-up to manage a portion of Terry’s assets that had hitherto been invested in bonds where yields are now near zero,” the statement said.
Fundsmith is described as the investment manager in the documents while head of product control Tom Armstrong is listed as a “related person”. Also listed as related persons are Michael Wheaton and Roderick White, who are based in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda respectively.
Fundsmith added: “Terry’s cautious nature has underpinned the success of Fundsmith Equity with its focus on a straightforward strategy to buy good companies, don’t overpay and do nothing. This will not change.”
The last product Fundsmith launched was the global small and mid-cap investment trust, Smithson, which raised a record £822.5m at IPO in October 2018.
