STEPHEN CRANSTON: Career of UK’s best fund manager shows skill at work in active management
Over 25 years his Special Situations fund was in the extraordinary situation of showing 19.9% compound annual return
After moving house I uncovered a book I had been given on probably the UK’s best fund manager, Anthony Bolton. It was given to me by Stanlib when it still had a close relationship with Bolton’s employer, Fidelity. Fidelity is an ace marketing machine so I approached it with several buckets full of salt. It was designed to celebrate Bolton’s first 25 years managing the Fidelity Special Situations fund back in 2004. It is a fund that is unlikely to have much appeal to the SA market as it is focused on the UK equity market and its status as a UK domestic unit trust makes it hard for foreign investors to access. But the fund’s track record seems to show that skill can emerge in active management. Special Situations is an unusual name for a mainstream long-only general equity fund. It is better suited to a merger arbitrage hedge fund, for example. But Bolton had previously run an equity fund called Special Situations for, of all people, the Schlesinger family from SA, founders of Killar...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.