The £230 million Securities Trust of Scotland fund said on Thursday it terminated its contract with Edinburgh-based asset manager Martin Currie and appointed London-based Troy Asset Management as its new investment manager and Edinburgh-based PATAC Limited as its alternative investment manager, company secretary and administrator.
PATAC Limited is the alternative investment fund manager of Edinburgh-based Personal Assets Trust plc, which is run by closed-end fund veteran Robin Angus.
Shares of Securities Trust of Scotland rose about 5% on the news.
The move of the mandate had been expected by analysts since early June when the departure of fund manager Mark Whitehead from Martin Currie was revealed.
Martin Currie now has just one investment trust, the £280 million Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust.
Martin Currie is a subsidiary of Legg Mason, which was recently acquired by Franklin Templeton.
Securities Trust of Scotland said that at Troy, its portfolio will be managed by James Harries, supported by Tomasz Boniek and the wider Troy team.
The trust said: “James will seek to achieve rising income and long term capital growth through patient and disciplined capital allocation, seeking out high quality income by investing in exceptional companies that the fund managers believe are attractively valued, with strong management teams, able to sustain growth at high returns on capital, in a high conviction, low turnover portfolio of approximately 30 to 50 stocks …
“Since being appointed, Troy has grown the shareholders’ funds of Personal Assets Trust plc from £148.9 million to £1.3 billion and the shareholders’ funds of Troy Income & Growth plc from £47.4 million to £253.3 million … “
Securities Trust of Scotland chairman John Evans said: “The directors of Securities Trust of Scotland are delighted to announce the appointment of Troy Asset Management as the new investment manager of the company and PATAC as the AIFM and company secretary.
“The board’s objective throughout the recent search process was to find a team with the resources, record and skills to continue to achieve the company’s objectives.
“We believe that in PATAC, Troy, James and Tomasz we have an excellent outcome and we look forward to a long and successful working relationship with all of them.
“The board is also pleased to introduce a discount management policy which will ensure that full value in asset terms consistently is available to all shareholders.
“The efficient use of the discount management policy has allowed the two investment trusts currently managed by Troy to show significant growth through consistent share issuance.
“The board is optimistic that such success will be replicated with Securities Trust of Scotland under its new management arrangements.”