Terry Smith has more than doubled the amount of money he is seeking to raise through the initial public offering of his new investment trust.
The fund manager has increased the launch target of the Smithson trust to £600m, up from the £250m originally planned, because of "significant demand".
If the trust managed to raise this it would make it one of the largest trust launches in the UK, behind the £800m raised by the Woodford Patient Capital trust in 2015.
Smithson is a small and mid-cap investment trust which Mr Smith will not manage but he will advise its managers in his role as chief investment officer.
Mr Smith said the new trust will use the same strategy he uses on his main fund, Fundsmith Equity: "buy good companies", "don't overpay" and "do nothing".
The trust's managers have identified and researched an investable universe of 83 "compelling" companies, from which they will select between 25 and 40 to put into the portfolio.
The trust will be managed by Simon Barnard and Will Morgan, who were hired from Goldman Sachs last year.
Over the past five years Fundsmith Equity has returned 158.3 per cent, compared to the 68.3 per cent returned by its sector, the IA Global.
The Smithson trust will charge 0.9 per cent, and is based on the market cap of the trust, not the more commonly used net asset value.
It is expected to list on 19 October, with the subscription period for shares ending on Friday (12 October).
damian.fantato@ft.com
