Lazard World Trust Fund

Termination of coverage

10 January 2019

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on Lazard World Trust Fund (WTR). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant. MORE »

Global opportunities with new 6% dividend policy

15 June 2018

Lazard World Trust Fund (WTR) is differentiated from the majority of peers by its focus on discounted assets. Its portfolio is a blend of closed-end funds, investment trusts and holding companies that trade at a discount to the value of their assets, and in particular those where the underlying assets are also undervalued. Manager Kun Deng and his Discounted Assets team at Lazard Asset Management are focused on opportunities wherever they arise, with a longstanding bias to Asian and emerging markets. A key part of the WTR strategy is to engage with the underlying holdings to help unlock value through initiatives such as higher dividend policies, and in the spirit of ‘practising what they preach’, the fund has announced a new 6% annual distribution, paid quarterly, which will make it one of the highest-yielding equity-focused investment companies. MORE »

Active investment in global opportunities

14 September 2017

Lazard World Trust Fund (WTR, formerly The World Trust Fund) offers investors access to a concentrated portfolio of the ‘best ideas’ of Lazard Asset Management’s Discounted Assets team, who manage more than $5bn of assets invested globally in undervalued companies, such as closed-end funds, investment trusts and holding companies that are trading at a discount to the value of their assets. Following a number of changes in 2016, the fund now pays a distribution of 3.5% of year-end NAV, making it the highest-yielding fund in its peer group, and, as requested by shareholders, has a new benchmark (MSCI AC World ex-US rather than the US-heavy MSCI AC World) that better reflects its international focus and high weighting in emerging markets. Recent performance has been strong, and the manager sees many exciting opportunities in areas such as China, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Romania, and smaller companies in the US and Europe. The fund can also hedge equity and currency exposures. MORE »

New initiatives to boost shareholder value

2 August 2016

Lazard World Trust Fund (WTR, formerly The World Trust Fund) seeks capital growth by investing globally in closed-end funds and holding companies that are trading at a discount to the value of their assets. Part of its approach involves working with portfolio holdings to unlock this value, and recent moves by the fund show it is prepared to practise what it preaches. So far in FY17, WTR has changed its name to link it more explicitly with its manager since launch in 1991; adopted a new benchmark that better reflects the make-up of the portfolio; announced a tender offer for up to 10% of shares at 98% of NAV minus costs; and proposed a new dividend policy, whereby investors will receive a distribution of 3.5% of the year-end NAV. Strong recent NAV performance has propelled the fund close to the top of its peer group over one, three and five years. MORE »