New investment fund Vinculum is promising to do things differently. Set up by former Liontrust chief executive Nigel Legge, Vinculum says its global equity fund – launched into the UK retail market on January 3 – will be free of the star fund manager premium that many of its rivals demand payment for.
Vinculum will hold 50 stocks and be benchmarked against the MSCI World Index. It will not charge a management fee: instead, it will ask for a hedge-fund-like 20% performance surcharge.
Legge says: "There are an awful lot of things about our industry that investors are beginning, justifiably in my opinion, to rail against – unfair pricing, inconsistency of intra-company process across products, underperformance due to human error, the overly hubristic trading culture and much more besides. With Vinculum we are looking to shake things up a bit, put these things right and offer investors real value for money."
That remains to be seen. But at Euromoney, we did enjoy the Christmas card Vinculum sent us, which certainly had a different take on the festive period.
The card’s small print reads: "This document is not to be regarded as nor constitutes a recommendation to think about, subconsciously consider or actually have a good time. Past Christmases are not necessarily a guide to future Christmases. Seasonal festivities can go down as well as up and can often go sideways. This information is for festive professionals only. Festive amateurs should consult with their Independent Festive Adviser at the earliest possible opportunity."