In her role, Eleanor will be providing both company secretarial and advisory services to Boards, who can draw on her technical and operational experience of more than 20 years in the investment company sector.

Eleanor is a highly respected operator in the investment company sector. She was at AXA Investment Managers for seven years where she was responsible for the company secretarial functions for all the UK companies in the AXA Investment Managers group, as well as all of the AXA Framlington investment company business.   Prior to joining AXA Investment Managers in 2003, Eleanor was at Govett Investment Management where she was head of company secretarial from 1996.  After reading Classics at Cambridge, Eleanor spent 9 years with Ernst & Young and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1985.

Alastair Smith, managing partner at Frostrow Capital says:
“Our client list grew significantly in 2010 and we want to continue to provide an exceptional level of service which means growing our team. Eleanor epitomises everything we stand for at Frostrow: highly skilled and experienced individuals who can provide service and advice of the highest quality. Eleanor’s appointment is good news for Frostrow and for our clients.”

Alastair Smith, managing partner at Frostrow Capital says:
“2010 has been an important year for Frostrow.  The firm is growing steadily and the trusts to whom we provide company management services have stable discounts, healthy shareholder interest and have performed well.  Our appointment by Witan is the icing on the cake of what has been a fantastic year for us.”

The annual black tie dinner, held this year at the Grand Connaught Rooms, is the premier event for the investment company sector and was as usual very well attended by investment managers, advisers and directors.

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (“FGT”) was one of five companies nominated in the UK Income category and Worldwide Healthcare Trust (“WWH”) was one of seven in the Specialist category. Another Frostrow client, Electra Private Equity was nominated in the Private Equity category.

Frostrow hosted a table which included Sven Borho and Keith Wilson, representatives of the investment managers of WWH and FGT respectively, who were each presented with a trophy.

Frostrow Capital is pleased to announce that the first three months of the new management of  Pacific Assets Trusts plc (“the Company”) have been a success. With effect from the 1st July 2010, F&C were replaced as managers of the Company. The highly respected Global Emerging Markets/ Asia Pacific team at First State Investments took over the management of the portfolio and investment company management specialists Frostrow Capital, were appointed to manage the non-investment affairs of the Company. Frostrow’s role included managing the transition from F&C.

Over the course of July, August and September almost 30million shares from the F&C savings scheme holdings in the Company were placed with new shareholders. The share price discount to NAV decreased to its current 5.2% from its 12 month average of 7.4%. Furthermore the share price has increased from 110.5p on 30th June 2010 to yesterday’s closing price of 123.75p.

Alastair Smith, managing partner at Frostrow Capital says:
“I think it is fair to say that the change in management arrangements have been received positively by the market.  The team at First State have a very strong reputation and that together with the collective efforts of First State themselves, Frostrow and the Company’s brokers, Collins Stewart, have enabled new buyers to be found for the shares that came from savings scheme clients of F&C. That potential stock overhang has now been dealt with and it did not result in the Company shrinking dramatically or experiencing a widening of its share price discount. The Company now has a more diversified, and therefore healthier shareholder base and it also has a new manager (First State), that the market believes is well positioned to deliver returns to investors.  Furthermore, those shareholders who wish to invest via a savings scheme now do so via independent open-architecture platforms, so the Company has a more robust and independent shareholder base than ever before.”

The White Paper aims to identify areas where Boards could be making improvements ahead of the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review and the increasing prevalence of competing investment products. Copies were posted to the Chairmen of almost every Investment Company and are available on the Home page of Frostrow.com.

In summary, Frostrow Capital suggests five areas that could be improved:

1) Take a more active position on investment performance: So far this year several boards have made the news as they sought to replace one portfolio manager for another. Where poor performance was involved, this has been viewed positively and it certainly highlights how boards can actively pursue a course of action that is in the best interests of shareholders.  Frostrow urges boards to continuously evaluate managers against the investment mandate, their performance targets and the value that they add relative to their fee levels. While no-one would support change for change’s sake, it is equally clear that there is room for improvement;

2) Access a larger pool of portfolio management talent: In the past the vast majority of investment companies were managed by large investment houses, where the investment management and the ‘other’ services were all provided under one roof. Today that sort of integrated model is increasingly being replaced by a more fragmented one.  Boards are increasingly separating the investment management mandate from the other services required. This opens up a longer list of potential boutique investment managers who want to focus purely on managing the portfolio. These boutiques normally don’t have teams of specialists providing the company secretarial, administration and marketing services, all of which can be provided by separately.

3) Understand the terms and conditions of in-house savings schemes: In-house savings schemes are usually actively promoted by investment houses and if successful can become a large and growing portion of the shareholder register of an investment company. This source of demand for the shares can help to maintain a narrower discount and investment companies often contribute to the marketing costs of these schemes. However difficulties can sometimes arise if the investment mandate of an investment company is moved away from the investment house. If the terms and conditions prevent in specie transfers of shares, then savings scheme or child trust fund holders who wish to remain shareholders might have to sell their shares before moving to another savings scheme or CTF provider. The presence of a large block of shares held through in-house schemes should not be allowed to serve as a hostage to the investment management mandate and boards should check the terms and conditions before agreeing to support them by contributing to their costs.

4) Actively manage discounts: Discounts continue to be a deterrent for many potential investors. Furthermore, some long-term supporters of investment companies are concerned that certain boards have not managed discounts as actively and effectively as they had pledged to do.  Managing discounts to prevent them widening too far and to reduce their volatility not only makes investment companies more attractive to investors but removes the potential threat from arbitrageurs.

5) Improve marketing and communications: Investment companies suffer unfairly from a reputation of being difficult to understand. Promotion of the attributes and achievements of the sector should not just be left to the AIC. Individual investment companies need to publicise their superiority over other types of structures. Long term performance, more competitive fee structures, independent boards, robust corporate governance are all features of investment companies that need to be promoted better. Doing so will enhance investor appeal and enable increased access to distribution channels and greater interest from intermediaries.

Alastair Smith, Managing Partner, Frostrow Capital:
“We believe some boards could be at risk of falling into the trap of believing that RDR will make investment companies more appealing and competitive without any proactive changes required. We have produced a paper, “Securing the future of investment companies”, available to all board directors that outlines both the opportunities and threats we believe investment companies face over the next decade.”

Grant Challis, Partner, Frostrow Capital:
“Investment companies offer investors good value, in terms of returns, the diversity of investment options and the governance structure that puts the shareholders interests at its core. However, there is room for improvement and by making changes now, investment companies will be better able to withstand the increasing competition from ETFs and open-ended funds. In failing to do so, we are concerned that the industry could lose out once again to the competition.”

The investment policy of the Company had been to invest worldwide in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and related companies in the healthcare sector with the objective of achieving a high level of capital growth.

The Investment Managers, OrbiMed Capital LLC, believe that it would be beneficial to shareholders to broaden the definition of the healthcare sector, to include companies in the healthcare equipment and healthcare technology sectors and also to include companies that provide healthcare and related services. None of these three areas of the healthcare sector will represent more than 15% of the portfolio at the date of acquisition and any investment made will be subject to the Company’s existing investment limitations and guidelines, details of which can be found in the Annual Report.

As a consequence of the change in investment policy, the Board proposed a change from the Company’s existing benchmark index which is the Datastream World Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Index (measured in sterling terms on a total return basis), to the MSCI World Healthcare Index (measured in sterling terms on a total return basis).

Furthermore, as a direct consequence of these changes, the Board proposed a change to the Company’s name from Finsbury Worldwide Pharmaceutical Trust PLC to Worldwide Healthcare Trust PLC, which the Board believes more accurately describes the Company today and going forward.

First State Investments will be appointed as the new investment manager and Frostrow Capital LLP (“Frostrow”) will provide administrative and marketing services. The new management arrangements will start on 1st July 2010.

The Board believes this new arrangement has considerable long term advantages. In particular, the investment manager or any other aspect of the company’s management can be changed with less disruption, to ensure the best available service is provided for all parts of the Company’s business.

PAC’s investment objective is unchanged and First State will continue to pursue long term capital growth through investment in selected companies in the Asia Pacific region and the Indian sub-continent, but excluding Japan and Australasia.

Frostrow will provide company secretarial, accounting, administration and marketing services. Frostrow is an independent provider of services to the investment companies sector and currently has five other investment company clients. A fee of 0.2% of market capitalisation will be payable for this service. Frostrow has agreed to waive three months’ fees and to absorb certain other costs in order to assist with the management transition.

In their monthly report in May, Winterflood Investment Trusts made the following observations:
“Over the last three years, Frostrow has established itself as a specialist in providing professional services to listed investment trust companies by offering ‘non-investment’ functions to boards. For some of the firm’s clients, this is a comprehensive service, performing all operations and providing strategic advice. For others, Frostrow provides specific services. Most of its clients followed the team from Close Investments although Castle Asia Alternative and Electra Private Equity are more recent appointments.

According to the Board of Pacific Assets, one of the attractions with employing Frostrow is that there would be less disruption in the event of any future changes to the investment management or any other aspects of the fund’s management. Although some might see this as an ominous comment at the preliminary stages of a relationship with a new investment manager, we believe that other boards may consider a similar arrangement. The ability to appoint a specialist team to provide a wide range of services, including strategic advice, should be attractive to those boards who may feel that an existing investment manager is failing to deliver a comprehensive service. In addition, it could be argued that a board’s independence is increased by separating the functions of investment and general management. Although this model does not suit all investment companies, we suspect that it will find favour with a greater number in future.”

BIOG issued 16,006,227 new shares raising approximately £23.9 million of additional funds at an issue price of 149.18p per share.  The new shares began trading on the 6th December. The Company now has 66,133,690 ordinary shares in issue and the market capitalisation moves over the £100m mark.

The placing was prompted by interest from a major institution sourced by Frostow Capital. Frostrow collaborated closely with BIOG’s brokers, Winterflood Securities, in generating demand for the new shares from new and existing holders.

Frostrow Capital LLP is an independent advisor providing specialist advisory and management services to investment companies. Frostrow currently act as Board Adviser to the Company, a role they have held since Feb 2008.

Frostrow takes over from Philip Dyke, a Partner of Electra Partners LLP, who has undertaken the duties of company secretary for the last 20 years.

This latest appointment reflects the Board’s desire to separate the company secretarial from the investment management functions performed by Electra Partners LLP.