Jeff Prestridge: "Top ten global funds I'd happily put in my pension"

Alliance Witan: Top Ten Global Fund

Writing in the Mail on Sunday's Wealth and Personal Finance Column, Jeff Prestridge puts Alliance Witan at the top of his list of global funds.

"Alliance Witan is one of the country’s largest investment trusts with a portfolio valued at £4.8 billion. It’s a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and only trusts 3i, Scottish Mortgage (run by Baillie Gifford) and F&C (managed by Columbia Threadneedle) are larger.

Although its size is a comfort blanket for investors, it’s the way the trust is managed that stands it apart from rivals.

Its portfolio is parcelled out to external investment houses to manage, most running 20-stock mini-portfolios and each bringing something different to the Alliance Witan party in terms of investment style or specialism.

The managers are chosen (and fired) by financial consultants Willis Towers Watson and are drawn from all corners of the globe. The resulting combined portfolio comprises more than 230 stocks and leans heavily on five of the holdings listed by the US. While five of tech’s “Magnificent Seven” stocks are among the trust’s top 20 holdings – Tesla and Apple are the absentees – Willis keeps a lid on the exposure by capping individual stock positions at 5 per cent.

When I looked at Alliance in late October 2018 (it became Alliance Witan in October last year after it consumed rival trust Witan), Willis was just bedding in as the trust’s overseer and the verdict was out as to whether its appointment would be to the benefit of shareholders.

But Willis’s appointment has been a resounding success. Since my review the fund has generated a return of 95 per cent. The average global trust has a near 60 per cent return.

Willis has ensured the trust’s record for delivering annual dividend has remained intact. It now stands at 58 years. Annual charges are a tad below 0.6 per cent. An ideal core investment holding."