Veteran investor Terry Smith’s new Smithson Investment Trust breaks records with £822m launch
Veteran investor Terry Smith's new small and mid cap investment trust has raised £822.5m, breaking records for the UK's biggest trust launch.
The Smithson Investment Trust initially targeted £250m before more than doubling its goal to £600m with the option to increase to £900m, and has knocked Neil Woodford's Patient Capital Trust off the top spot. It will start trading on the London Stock Exchange on Friday morning.
Read more: Fundsmith aims to raise £250m for new investment trust
The Smithson team will be lead by former Goldman Sachs analysts Simon Barnard, as investment manager, and assistant investment manager Will Morgan, supported by Smith.
Terry Smith, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Fundsmith commented: "Our thesis that many of the existing small and mid cap funds in the market are anachronistic by being overly home biased and that there was a gap for a quality small and mid cap global equity fund appears to have been borne out by a wide range of investors subscribing for the Smithson offer.
"In addition, our innovative step to absorb all the issue costs as the investment manager has helped to remove the concern that investors participating in the IPO would be subject to an initial loss from these costs.
"I look forward to working with our portfolio management team to deploy the funds raised into the compelling growth companies we have identified."
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