Investment trust insider on Menhaden – James Carthew: Menhaden remains a fish out of water
Over the almost six years since the launch of Menhaden (MNH) on 31 July 2015, it would be fair to say that I have not warmed to it. As I have freely admitted, I just did not understand what it was trying to achieve. This week I had a chance to talk to Ben Goldsmith and Luciano Suana of Menhaden Capital Management, hear their side of the story and the rationale for what appears to be an unusual portfolio.
The trust was launched on the back of Ben’s experience with another fund management business, WHEB, which had both public and private arms and was focused on environmental investments. The private equity arm was spun out as Alpina Partners. The listed equities business continued as WHEB, which describes itself as ‘a positive impact investor focused on the opportunities created by the transition to a low carbon and sustainable global economy’. It is a successful business (although sadly lacking a presence in the investment companies market) investing in listed equities.
Menhaden started life with £80m of assets – smaller than it had hoped for – and an investment objective which could be summarised as generating long term shareholder returns by investing in companies delivering or benefiting from the efficient use of energy and resources. The company recently changed its name to Menhaden Resource Efficiency to reinforce this message.
Ben (pictured) stresses the fund’s long term outlook, which he says is influenced by chairman of the investment committee Graham Thomas’s experience of working for RIT Capital Partners (RCP) and Ben’s own experience with his family money.
At the outset, the company acquired a seed portfolio of interests in a selection of private equity funds.
It would be fair to say that Menhaden didn’t get off to a great start. However… read more here