Baillie Gifford's Lothian sets sights on listed private equity amid 'mighty big' discounts

Cautious outlook for listed equities

Baillie Gifford’s multi-asset team is mulling an allocation to private equity trusts in light of their “mighty big” discounts this year, a potential move that comes amid a significant trim to the Sustainable Multi-Asset fund’s exposure to listed equities.

The £175m fund, launched in May this year, follows the same investment philosophy as the firm's £5bn multi-asset franchise, but with key differentiators, such as a carbon budget and the use of the firm's proprietary ESG screening process.  It has positions in some of Baillie Gifford's top funds, such as the £2.3bn Positive Change fund, the £860m Responsible Global Equity Income fund and £795.4m Strategic Bond fund, as well as in external funds and direct investments.  Although the portfolio does not currently have any private equity positions, Scott Lothian, one of the portfolio manag...