Positioned for interesting times

Hansa Trust (HAN/HANA) seeks to be differentiated from peers by giving investors access to a portfolio of global equities, specialist funds and a strategic (c 20%) holding with exposure to Brazil, which began as a small position but has grown as a result of superior long-term performance. There is a long-term bias to equities but the focus on preserving and growing capital means that, at certain points in the cycle, the manager may invest more in defensive assets to dampen volatility. Strategy changes since the start of FY15 appear to be bearing fruit and recent NAV and share price performance have been strong, yet Hansa Trust remains at a wide discount to NAV relative to peers. This provides scope for the discount to narrow substantially should the positive performance trend be maintained.