London-based rare stamp dealers Stanley Gibbons have launched a fund investing in rare stamps from around the world. The Stanley Gibbons...

London-based rare stamp dealers Stanley Gibbons have launched a fund investing in rare stamps from around the world.

The Stanley Gibbons Rare Stamp Investment Fund aims to achieve long-term capital growth and is targeting a minimum annualised return of 10 per cent per annum.

The fund is managed on a full discretionary basis by Stanley Gibbons, which has traded in stamps for nearly 150 years and has also actively managed stamp investments on behalf of investors through its investment department.

Investment in the fund is for a 5-year term and subscriptions are raised periodically in segregated tranches. The fund’s first tranche is open for subscriptions until 23 December 2005. Subscription proceeds are used to acquire and trade in stamps from around the world to generate double-digit returns.

At the end of the 5 year term the stamps are to be sold and the proceeds distributed to investors. There is a success fee to encourage exceptional management performance.

Paul Fraser, a director of the Stanley Gibbons Rare Stamp Investment Fund said: “Stamps have a low correlation with other asset classes, providing investors with the opportunity to diversify their portfolios”.

The Fund is approved for distribution in the UK by Chiltern Corporate Finance.

The minimum subscription is £20,000 ($34,500) on which there is a 5 per cent fee. In addition there is a management fee of 1.5 per cent per annum and a performance fee of 20 per cent on returns above a hurdle rate of 150 per cent.