Bolton's China trust shares down £1m in value

Anthony Bolton has lost £1m of his own money in the £570m Fidelity China Special Situations trust in the last 12 months, according to research from broker Collins Stewart.

Bolton has a personal investment of 2.5m shares in the company which had a market value of £1.85m at the end of last year, according to Collins Stewart.

This is down from £2.95m in December 2010.

The fall in value of Bolton's stake coincides with falls in the value of the trust itself, after it posted a decline in NAV of 31.2% in 2010.

Bolton is one of 37 investment managers with a stake of over £500,000 in their own vehicles.

Other high profile investment trust managers who have invested more than seven figures include Jupiter's Alex Darwall, Artemis' John Dodd, and Jeremy Tigue, who manages the Foreign & Colonial investment trust.

Christopher Mills, manager of the North Atlantic Smaller Companies trust, heads the list with a £31m investment in his own offering.

The report also found 35 board members have personal investments in excess of £1m.

Lord Rothschild is top of the pile, investing £223m in RIT Capital Partners.

Alan Brierley, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said it is not unreasonable to expect both boards and managers to have a certain amount invested in their own vehicles.

"The total investment by boards and managers in this report is £687m and we take material comfort from this alignment of interests," said Brierley.

"We continue to believe that personal share ownership sends a powerful message to both existing and potential investors."

Brierley said the report also found 18.5% of directors have no investment in their company.

He added there are 29 investment company boards whose total value of directors' shareholdings is less than six months remuneration.

The Neuberger Berman Global Floating Rate Income fund, which raised $500m when it launched last year, has no investment by any of its directors.

"Although there is significant investment, the lack of shareholdings by many is disappointing, and investors are entitled to ask why there is not a greater commitment," added Brierley.