Baillie Gifford's Smith looks to China with sale of Pacific stake

Baillie Gifford's Gerald Smith has sold his stake in the group's Pacific fund, preferring to invest directly in China.

The manager of the £891m Monks investment trust sold his 4.7% holding in the pan-Asia Baillie Gifford vehicle in order to gain exposure to Chinese consumer and construction stocks. “The general consensus on China is it is a bit of a disaster – massive over-investment and massive problems in property and banks,” he says. “However, one area markets do believe will be important over the next five to 10 years is consumer consumption. “Also, I think investors are being too gloomy about construction. The situation is not as bad as markets think and China will find a need for the capacity...