The Single Malt Fund – the world’s first regulated and publicly listed single malt whisky fund – has arrived in the UK.
Supervised by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and listed on the Nordic Growth Market (NGM) exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, The Single Malt Fund aims to raise a maximum €25M, and has already started to collect capital from Sweden’s retail investors.
Having been operational for six months, the next phase of growth will see the Fund targeting professional investors via UK wealth managers and family offices, with a minimum investment of €100,000 per investor.
As the only regulated and listed ‘passion pursuit’ on the market, The Single Malt Fund is aiming to tap into a growing demand among high net worth individuals for investing in alternative assets as part of a balanced portfolio approach.
Over the period from December 2014 to June 2019, Rare Whisky 101’s leading index for rare whisky, the Apex 1000 Index, which tracks the best performing 1000 bottles of rare whisky, rose by 162.22%, outperforming the Liv-Ex Fine Wine 1000 (39.58%), FTSE 100 (13.09%), Brent Crude (11.09%) and Gold (19.16%).
Since launching earlier this year, The Single Malt Fund has established its headquarters in Dublin and recruited Ed Forrest a senior executive with over 25 years’ experience at LVMH and Diageo, to run operations for the Fund, including responsibility for buying and selling whisky for the Fund. Three of the Fund’s most notable investments to date include:
- A cask of 1977 Littlemill – some of the oldest available single malt whisky from the oldest distillery in Scotland;
- Port Ellen 37 YO: a once in a generation cask whisky. Only 174 bottles released worldwide;
- A full collection of the Midleton Very Rare releases. The most prized collection of Irish whiskey available.
Unlike other whisky-focused funds, The Single Malt Fund’s whisky under management will also be made available for sale as and when it realises its investments. The Fund’s current investment strategy is focused on turning over 60% of its stock per year. Sales of its rare and collectible whisky will be managed through an online store which will launch early in January, when the Fund plans to start turning over its investments.
A key characteristic of the Fund’s investment strategy is that it focuses on buying from the primary market, including producers, distillers and distributors, below the market price, using the margin to hedge against secondary market price fluctuations.
Single Malt Fund CEO Christian Svantesson said: ‘The Single Malt Fund is unique in that we are not only creating a vehicle for whisky enthusiasts to invest in whisky. We are also allowing them to indulge in their passion by providing first access to bottles of rare and collectable whisky once the Fund decides to sell.
‘By launching this fund, we are tapping into a growing demand among high net worth individuals for investing in alternative assets such as art, wine, cars and watches. However, unlike any other passion pursuit, The Single Malt Fund is regulated and listed on a public exchange, making our investment process fully transparent.
‘We believe that this strong corporate governance, aligned to whisky’s strong performance in the secondary market, will appeal to the clients of wealth managers and family offices, offering a truly unique investment proposition.’
For more information, visit www.thesinglemaltfund.com
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