Two funds that launched in March in the eye of the coronavirus storm — Downing Unique Opportunities and Downing Global Investors — are managed by industry veterans Rosemary Banyard and Anthony Eaton respectively.
In one sense it was dreadful timing, as raising money was clearly going to be difficult, but launching at the bottom of the market has long-term advantages.
One problem for new funds is getting listed on platforms.
So credit to Downing as these are already available on a few including Aegon, AJ Bell, and Transact.
Seventy-five per cent of Unique Opportunities has been invested in 28 companies. Covid-19 has not changed the ethos of the fund, which is to invest in small and mid-cap high-quality businesses.
Global Investors has 90 per cent invested in 150 companies.
Mr Eaton continues to buy from his favoured sectors as he believes we are in for a period of prolonged global expansion once out of the crisis.
Performance has been good, with Global Investors gaining 12.6 per cent and Unique Opportunities rising 16 per cent.
Ben Yearsley is an investment consultant at Fairview Investing
