The Board is proposing to recommend that the number of investments within the Company’s portfolio be increased from 20 to 30 holdings to 30 to 50 holdings. The Board, together with the Investment Manager, believes that this will permit the Company to have a less concentrated and further diversified portfolio while continuing to allow a high level of conviction investment which is a characteristic deemed especially desirable by the Board.
It is further proposed that the investment policy makes it clear that the Company is primarily a global emerging markets small cap investment company rather than a global small cap investment company. The Company is currently permitted to invest globally in Small Cap Companies without any geographical restrictions. Since its launch in June 2017, the Company’s portfolio has tended to focus on Small Cap Companies listed in Emerging Markets and the Company’s new portfolio managers have advised that it is their intention to continue this focus on Emerging Markets. Therefore, although the portfolio’s current geographical bias is compliant with the Company’s existing investment policy, one of the reasons for these amendments is to ensure that the continued future focus on Emerging Markets is clear to investors.