Smith invests just 15% of Fundsmith EM trust in first five weeks

Terry Smith's Fundsmith Emerging Equities trust invested just 15% of its portfolio in the five weeks since listing, as the manager takes a cautious approach to his first foray into emerging market investment.

As of 31 July, Smith (pictured) had bought 35 stocks, in keeping with the trust’s planned portfolio of 35-55 holdings, but 85% of the NAV remained in cash following its 25 June launch. The manager is thought to have opened sub-scale positions as he continues to assess the business models and corporate governance structures of the consumer-facing businesses in which he invests. Around one fifth of the trust’s prospective holdings are subsidiaries of the multinational companies in which the open-ended Fundsmith Global Equity fund invests, the firm estimates, suggesting many of the holdi...