WAY Freestyle Growth Portfolio Fund

A new fund dedicated to non-correlated growth...

The WAY Freestyle Growth Portfolio Fund is a fund for now, in every sense. It is a fund which is managed by the WAY Investment Managers' team, led by Trevor Chanter, but based on the considerable intellectual input of six individual members of the WAY Star Chamber, an independent think-tank which meets regularly to strip bare the underlying factors which are driving investment performance today. Whilst the Fund is very much conviction driven the input is diverse enough (because it is prompted - but not run - by six highly independently minded individuals who do not work together) to avoid any particular focus or orientation.

(Picture left: Trevor Chanter, Investment Manager)
It is not a fund for the faint-hearted in that it is dedicated to identifying and backing the diverse performance drivers of the moment across all asset classes and geographical sectors in an unstructured manner. Of course, the mixing of diverse investments does itself mean that the Fund is unlikely to be directly correlated to any particular market and also does incorporate an interesting asset mix and therefore spread of risk.

In its formative months prior to launch, the model portfolio being run benefited from an exposure to gold mining companies, currency baskets, listed hedge and absolute return funds, agriculture and forestry funds and even an extremely battered BP (but only once the share price had hit 300p). The eclectic mix of assets in the actively-managed trial portfolio has delivered an unexpectedly low level of volatility whilst showing good gains during somewhat difficult markets.

Star Chamber members contributing their thoughts to the WAY process include specialists in Fixed Interest and Gold (Ian Williams), Absolute Return and Hedge funds (Roderick Collins) and Asian equities (Peter Chesterfield) as well as specialists in asset allocation and risk assessment.

'No win, low fee' approach to delivering performance to investors

An innovative charging structure sees the Fund Manager (WAY) take nil% annual management charge and a performance fee which only kicks in once the Fund has achieved 10% growth in that year. This fee is applied on a tiered structure whereby performance up to 20% (between 10% and 20%) only incurs a 1% fee, thereby delivering a highly cost effective level of net returns to shareholders. Quite naturally, given this light touch on more modest performance levels, the performance fee then increases - but only once shareholders are benefitting from highly competitive returns. The retail share class incorporates an additional 0.5% annual charge which is then paid out to advisers as trail commission.

Fund objectives

To achieve long term capital appreciation. The Fund focuses on delivering returns from investment across the eligible markets of the world. The investment adviser invests on an unconstrained basis following input and advice of largely external advisers who contribute their up-to-the-minute and best ideas for growth investment.

References:
1. Data & Statistics - Financial Express
2. Others: Lipper; WAY Investment Managers Limited

Associated Links:

Launch version WAY Freestyle Growth Portfolio: Fund Factsheet

Latest WAY Freestyle Growth Portfolio: Fund Factsheet

Details of WAY Client-centred: Performance Fees

WAY Freestyle Growth Portfolio Fund: Plan Documents

WAY Fund Managers' fund launch: Press Release

Please Remember:
The price of shares and the income from them can go down as well as up as a result of changes in the value of the underlying investments and currency movements. An investor may not get back the amount originally invested. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future returns.