100 Club Awards 2015: Specialist Sectors and Assets

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by

CATEGORY WINNER

Healthcare/biotech: Frostrow Capital – The Biotech Growth Trust

This investment trust scooped the award in the Specialist Sectors category after notching up strong returns from investing in the biotechnology sector.

OrbiMed has managed the portfolio since its launch in 1995, with Geoffrey Hsu and Richard Klemm at the helm. The investment objective is to seek capital appreciation through investment in the worldwide biotechnology industry.

OrbiMed describes its investment strategy as being grounded in fundamental stock-specific research of biotechnology companies, “often those with products approaching critical development milestones”.

It is a concentrated portfolio, with just 36 holdings currently, and exposed only to those ideas in which the managers have very high conviction in the investment thesis.

OrbiMed states that it seeks to invest in companies with “under-appreciated products in the pipeline, capable management teams and adequate financial resources”.

While the trust has a global remit, a country breakdown reveals 85.2 per cent of the portfolio is exposed to North America. A further 7.1 per cent is in continental Europe and the UK accounts for 4.7 per cent.

What the judges say

The winner has effectively capitalised on the considerable returns on offer from its asset class in recent years, according to the judges.

In numbers

£423m

Total assets

418.7%

Five-year actual return

1.2%

Ongoing charges

Club members

Financials: Fidelity Global Financial Services

Frontier markets: Baring Asean Frontiers

Private equity: HarbourVest Global Private Equity

Technology: Axa Framlington Global Technology