Global multi-manager giant Alliance Witan (ALW) has negotiated a management fee cut from its fund manager Towers Watson. The current tiered annual management charge starting at 0.52% will be replaced in April by a single charge of 0.46% of the £4.5bn investment trust’s market value, falling to 0.41% in January. This follows publication of its 2025 annual results earlier this month.
Our view
Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “We think Alliance Witan’s decision to further reduce its management fee is a welcome move for shareholders and reinforces what was already a highly competitive cost structure. With an ongoing charges ratio of 0.47%, ALW is already one of the cheapest trusts in its Global peer group, and these further cuts should help preserve that advantage at a time when cost discipline is increasingly important to investors, particularly amid the rise of active ETFs.
“While some may be surprised by the removal of the tiered fee structure, this looks more like a simplification than a concession in practice. The fee is charged on market capitalisation and, following the initial change from 1 April, all of ALW’s market cap will in any case be charged at the lowest tiered rate of 0.46%. That improves further from 2027.”
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