Linus Uhlig, Investment Week, 12 November 2025:
Veteran fund manager Terry Smith’s £1.8bn investment trust, Smithson (SSON), will seek shareholder approval to roll over into open-ended investment company (OEIC), after a period of trading at a persistent discount..
The trust has traded at a persistent discount to NAV since early 2022, which the board put down to “a number of factors, including relative underperformance, in part due to the manager’s style being out of favour”..
James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, said: “We are always sorry to see money flow out of the sector but there was not much point in Smithson being an investment company.”
Smithson was not utilising many of the levers that investment trusts are able to pull, such as gearing or private investments, Carthew added.
“There were no derivatives, nothing creative with income generation or distribution, making this a pretty plain vanilla vehicle,” he said.
While the appearance of the OEIC portfolio will largely mirror the that of the trust, Carthew noted that “shareholders will lose by no longer having a board fighting in their corner”.
Saba reportedly exits ESCT after early May tender offer
The 0.9% management fee will be held, but be based on the NAV of New Smithson, rather than the market capitalisation. According to Carthew, this could result in a roughly 10% higher management charge.
Read more here