Montanaro European Smaller Companies Fund

The Fund aims to achieve capital growth in excess of the MSCI Europe Small Cap Index by investing in European and UK smaller quoted companies, with a particular focus on those with a market capitalisation below that of the largest company in the benchmark index.

The full investment objective and policy for the Fund is stated in the Fund’s prospectus.

The Fund is classified as Article 6 for the purpose of SFDR.

Why invest in European SmallCap?

We believe that every investment portfolio should have some exposure to SmallCap, primarily owing to:

The ‘SmallCap Effect’ – the proven long-term outperformance of smaller companies versus their LargeCap peers*
A wealth of choice, with more than 2,300 SmallCap companies in Europe
Under-researched, making for an inefficient market ripe with opportunity for those who invest in thorough analysis
Portfolio diversification - helping to lower portfolio risk

*Source: see research from Dimson & Marsh

How we invest

Our investment process has remained unchanged for many years:

We invest exclusively in “Quality Growth” companies
We generate new ideas ourselves (no brokers)
We do thorough research ourselves, which includes detailed analysis and company site visits
We integrate ESG fully into company analysis
We take a conservative approach to valuation

How to invest

The Fund is available through various platforms:

Alternatively, find out about the other ways of accessing the Fund.

How to invest

Fund managers

Fund Manager

Backup Fund Manager

Charles Montanaro

Chairman / Fund Manager

Professional

Charles graduated with an honours degree in Anthropology from Durham University in 1976. He spent four years in industry before joining Merrill Lynch in 1980 as a private client broker in London. He joined Dean Witter Reynolds in 1984 and Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1987 as a Senior Vice President where, in both cases, he was their top institutional broker in the UK, joining the high-yield bond department in 1989. In 1990, Charles joined MMG Patricof (now Apax Partners) as a Director of investment banking working with UK private and public smaller companies.

In August 1991, he founded Montanaro to specialise in analysing and investing in quoted European smaller companies on behalf of leading institutions. He has since launched and managed several funds and established a strong track record. In addition, he has served on the Boards of two public smaller companies. He was appointed a Director of the Montanaro European Smaller Companies plc on 12 January 2012.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Anthropology, Durham University (1976)

Personal

Charles, with his inexhaustible supply of energy, is rooting for Arsenal when he isn't motivating his own team.

A pity his enthusiastic approach doesn't work with fish. Despite numerous attempts, he has yet to catch a trout, let alone a salmon. Although he did catch a piranha during his first trip up the Amazon and is now known as "the white Huaorani" following his second adventure in search of undiscovered tribes in the jungles of Ecuador.

Having survived his first London marathon in a vain attempt to get fit, he spent time in the jungles of Papua with the stone-age Korowai and Kombai who had not seen a white man before. Although practising cannibals, he was clearly too tough for their taste and survived the adventure – narrowly avoiding a native attempting to shoot his bow and arrow first and ask questions later…

In search of truly undiscovered people, he was temporarily kidnapped in Mamberamo by an unknown tribe where he found that not all natives are friendly. Undeterred, he went hunting with the Yanomami in Venezuela and the Embera of Panama at the end of 2007 where he got eaten alive by mosquitos and nasty little nigwas and leeches. In 2008, with his wife to be Jane, he tried his hand at climbing steep hills firstly in Kashmir and then in Bhutan where he met the new King before climbing 18,000 feet to see what altitude sickness felt like. An unexpected 40 kilometre hike in the snow (abandoned by a guide who was lost) nearly ended badly.

He survived running the Bulls of Pamplona as a pre-cursor to further exploits among indigenous tribes. These included walking safaris with the San people in Botswana and fishing with Australian aborigines. A return trip in 2009 to the jungles of Irian Jaya (the Korowai) saw him going native and returning with a stick through his nose - much to the disapproval of his wife (since removed – the stick that is). In 2011, Charles explored the jungles of Sumatra with the Mentawai.

In 2013, Charles founded and largely funded Tribal Survival, a charity aimed at improving the lives of indigenous people living in remote jungles by providing access to Western doctors and medicine. In 2014, a five-year programme was initiated with the assistance of the World Health Organisation to eradicate Lymphatic Filariasis (elephantiasis) among the Korowai.

For a change, Charles chose to spend time with indigenous people living in colder climates. In 2017, he spent a fortnight hunting on dog sleds with a remote community of Inuit in Kulusuk (Greenland). 2018 saw him living with the Nenet, reindeer herdsmen in Yamal (North West Siberia). In both cases, temperatures below minus 30 - 40 degrees were not uncommon and hairs in his nostrils froze.

November 2019 saw a return to the Korowai of West Papua where humidity was almost 100 degrees. Not sure which is worse. Once again, he returned with a stick through his nose but also an earring - his wife even less impressed. Where to next?

Fund documents

Factsheets

Webinar Recordings

Commentary

KIIDs

Annual and Interim Reports

Prospectus

Application Form

Montanaro Funds Subscription Agreement

Corporate Documents

Other

Contact our sales team

UK, Ireland and Channel Islands

Tom Norman-Butler

France, Benelux, Italy, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland

Christian Albuisson

Nordics

Henrik Schmidt

Sustainable & Impact Investing

Ed Heaven

IFAs – North

Chris Crier

IFAs – South

Adam Lomas

Christian Albuisson

Head of Client Relationship Management & Chairman of the Sustainability Committee

Professional

Christian graduated from the University of Grenoble in 1981, where he studied Politics & Law. His research on Scottish politics took him to Scotland where, in 1986, he joined Martin Currie Investment Management as an Investment Manager covering Europe and Asia. In 1988 he joined British Linen Bank, part of the Bank of Scotland Group, where he was in charge of European investments.

In 1990, Christian joined Edinburgh Fund Managers ("EFM") where he was responsible for managing the European Unit Trust and marketing in Canada and the US. After eight years at EFM, in 1998 Christian joined Kempen Capital Management (UK) where he was involved in the marketing and management of their SRI funds and also with marketing in Europe and Canada.

Christian is trilingual in French, English and Spanish.

Christian joined Montanaro in July 2006 and became Head of Client Relationship Management in 2011 and Chairman of the Sustainability Committee since 2013.

Christian has responsibility for Scotland, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

Qualifications

Politics & Law degree, University of Grenoble (1981)
Fluent in French, English and Spanish

Personal

As a fund manager, Christian sometimes took contrarian views. This may be why he left the South of France to move to cold and wet Scotland. Christian speaks French and Spanish and on moving to Scotland, even took (and passed!) an O-Grade in Gaelic.

He likes French and Italian wines and is currently learning Italian so he can visit the various producers during his holidays. For some years now, Christian has imported his favourite wines and champagne into the UK and he is often asked to present them at tasting sessions. His other great interests are Scottish history, literature, cinema and running (when the Scottish weather is not too bad). He also spends some time serving the French community in Scotland as an elected councillor.

He plans to go to the Gaelic college in Skye to improve his Gaelic. He loves the West coast of Scotland, one of the most beautiful parts of the world, when it does not rain and there are no midges!