Fund of the week: New managers should deliver

It's out with the old and in with the new for the Witan Investment Trust (LSE: WTAN). Since he joined in 2010, Andrew Bell, the trust's chief executive, has taken a new broom to the trust's long list of investment managers.

Unlike other funds, which tend to have just one or two managers, Witan adopts a multi-manager approach', using between ten and 15 investment managers at any one time. Its rationale is that this will "deliver added value for shareholders while smoothing out the volatility normally associated with a single manager".

Most recently, Bell has brought on board two new managers replacing Thomas White International and Southeastern Asset Management with Pzena Investment Management and Tweedy Browne, says Leonora Walters in Investors Chronicle.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

The new appointments are in line with Bell's strategy of replacing investment in trackers with active managers. While he prefers not to change managers too often due to the cost, he believes the new managers "had more scope" to deliver investors a better bang for their buck.

Around 40% of its holdings are in Britain, with just under 24% in US stocks, 14% in Europe and 10% in the Far East. Nearly 23% is held in the financial services sector, with 16% in consumer services and 15% in industrials.

Major holdings include publisher Reed Elsevier and tech giant Google. The trust has an ongoing charge of 1.01%, and trades at a discount to its net asset value of around 8%.