Lauren Hardy, Portfolio Adviser, 27 NOVEMBER 2023:
Chrysalis investment trust (CHRY) – a £405m company that invests in later-stage private equity firms – will “stand to benefit” from its investment managers Richard Watts and Nick Williamson leaving Jupiter Asset Management and setting up their own entity to look after the trust, according to several investment managers.
Yesterday morning (27 November) it was announced that Chrysalis’s co-portfolio managers would leave Jupiter Asset Management in order to set up their own independent investment advisory firm from 1 April next year, in order to focus solely on the management of the trust’s portfolio.
Data from FE Fundinfo shows that, over three and five years respectively, the investment company has lost a respective 51.2% and 34.6% over three and five years, with the company holding a concentrated portfolio of between 10 and 15 stocks at any one time. AIC data shows that the trust’s discount to net asset value stands at 49.6%.
Andrew Haining, chair of CHRY, told Portfolio Adviser that the move provides a “better structure” to shareholders.
“From a practical perspective, I think Jupiter has various things it’s trying to do at the moment in terms of the way it’s driving its business forward, and [CEO] Matthew Beesley is approaching that with the right interests for Jupiter’s shareholders”, he said.
“From our perspective, it was better to make a natural break at this stage, as we approached the continuation vote, to bring that management in house. There are plenty of successful examples of house-managed vehicles such as these that manage assets for the longer term. And I think it is difficult sometimes to manage those within a within a public company structure.”…
David Johnson, senior investment analyst at QuotedData, said the board has opted for a route that ”seems to preserve the essence of Chrysalis while cutting away much of the fat”.
He said: “The Chrysalis managers’ day-to-day activities will be more focused on producing better results for shareholders.
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