The £1.2bn investment trust is listed in the global growth sector and gives mandates to selected managers to run in their house style.
Hedge fund manager Lansdowne Partners will run its £30m pot, funded by Witan’s cash resources and a small increase in short-term borrowings, according to its newly established developed markets long only strategy.
It will apply a concentrated stock-picking approach within the strategy consisting solely of long positions in a portfolio of 15-25 stocks.
Andrew Bell, chief executive of Witan Investment Trust, said: “This appointment is part of our continuing move to invest more with specialist managers who have innovative and high conviction approaches towards creating value through stock picking and portfolio construction.
“Lansdowne Partners’ unconstrained yet analytically rigorous investment approach fits well with Witan’s objective of seeking returns driven by the individual characteristics of portfolio companies and less dependent on equity index performance.”
