Former Close funds rebranded by Time
Nigel Ashfield, a former senior executive of Close Asset Management, has launched an investment house which focuses on IFAs as the main distribution channel.
Mr Ashfield said Time Investments, a London-based property and tax planning investment management business, will initially offer two funds, the £155m Freehold Income Trust and the £135m Capital Trading Companies fund.
Freehold trust offers investors stable income, while the Capital fund gives clients 100 per cent inheritance tax relief on their investments after two years.
The funds were originally managed under Close but were sold to Alpha Real Capital last year. They have now been rebranded and relaunched under its new subsidiary firm, Time Investments.
When the funds were sold, Mr Ashfield left Close to head up Time Investments, bringing former colleagues with him. He also poached Russell Jarvis from Octopus Investments to lead a sales and marketing team focused on distributing the products to IFAs with a new strategy and a consumer-facing brand.
Mr Ashfield said: “We wanted to relaunch this business to face the intermediary market with a brand and sales team appropriate for this day and age.
“We have focused on IFAs because they are long-term investors and the nature of our funds is long-term. Coming out of Close, we spent the last year putting the building blocks in place to create a business which went from one with nothing facing the intermediary market, to the best intermediary and sales marketing team to distribute the products.”
The Freehold trust, which has a 19-year- track record, purchases residential freehold properties and sells the leaseholds to buyers who then pay £119 a year in annual freehold ground rental to the fund. The fund currently owns 65,000 flats and houses.
The ground rental is small but it means income is secure. In its most recent annual results for the year ended 31 March 2012, the trust produced a total return of 6.02 per cent, of which 5.26 per cent was distributed as income, with a 10-year average of 6.2 per cent.
Mr Ashfield said: “Markets are volatile and people are looking for higher returns and seeking safe havens to broaden their asset allocation into uncorrelated assets.”
The Capital fund focuses on capital preservation to give IHT relief as quickly as possible through business property relief. The fund lends to property developers, owns and manages forests and operates and manges self-storage business.
Mr Ashfield added that advisers can expect more fund launches later this year aimed at IFAs looking to diversify their client portfolios, manage risk and optimise tax.
Steve Hennessy, associate director of Buckinghamshire-based Myers Davison Ginger, said: “Central to its success will be giving IFAs good technical advice and service. These are particularly esoteric investments so when the opportunity arises to talk about it with clients you need that support.”