Further to investor approval at an extraordinary general meeting, on 10th January 2025 Artemis merged the Artemis European Select Fund into the Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund.
Artemis have stated the following with respect to the merger. Please note that 'Current Fund' refers to the Artemis European Select Fund and 'Receiving Fund' refers to the Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund:
"Completing the Merger will result in a larger fund with lower fees paid by all investors. The Receiving Fund has assets of £261.54m, as of 30 September 2024. The Receiving Fund has a lower administration fee when compared to the Current Fund, meaning that it will have a lower ongoing charge when compared to the Current Fund, of 0.86% vs. 0.87%, for Class I units. On an investment of £1,000, this represents a change from £8.70 per year to £8.60 per year.
The Current Fund closely resembles the Receiving Fund and has a number of features that are similar. In particular, both funds have the same investment objective (to grow capital over a five-year period), both invest in a portfolio of European (ex UK) equities, have the same benchmark and IA sector (FTSE World Europe ex UK TR and IA Europe Excluding UK, respectively), and have the same level of risk when considering the synthetic risk and return indicator (6 out of 7). The two funds also have a degree of overlap in their current portfolios of investments. Since its launch in March 2001, the Receiving Fund has been managed by Philip Wolstencroft.
The Receiving Fund is therefore regarded as an appropriate alternative fund for investors in the Current Fund who wish to maintain their exposure to a European equity strategy.
Notwithstanding the overlap in current portfolios of investments between the Current Fund and the Receiving Fund, the Current Fund may undertake some portfolio realignment prior to the Merger. The Current Fund currently has 36 holdings while the Receiving Fund is more diversified, having 88 holdings."
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- uploaded - 02 January 2025