Fidelity Global Special Situations
Fidelity Global Special Situations is run by Chistine Baalham and Tom Record and is made up predominantly of larger companies. Christine and Tom use the breadth of Fidelity's global research team to highlight what they see as being the best ideas from around the world. Holdings fall into one of three categories, forming a blended portfolio that can deliver consistently through all market conditions.
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Our Opinion
Christine and Tom have made a strong start to their tenure on this fund – indicating they are capable replacements for long-serving manager Jeremy Podger. The fund benefits from a solid but flexible process with the ability to leverage on an extensive network of Fidelity's global analyst team.
Fund Managers
Christine Baalham, Lead Manager
Christine Baalham joined Fidelity International in February 2024 and assumed co-portfolio management responsibilities for the Global Special Situations & World strategy in April 2024. She joined from Ninety One, where she co-managed Global Equity Strategy from 2019 and spent over 20 years as a founding member of the 4Factor equity team. Her roles included global financials and services sector specialist, portfolio manager of the Global Endurance Equity Fund, and head of the 4Factor UK Equity team. Christine began her career at Schroder Investment Management. She holds an MPhil in Chemistry from Cambridge and is a CFA Charterholder.
Tom Record, Co-Manager
Tom Record joined Fidelity International in February 2024 and assumed co-portfolio management responsibilities for the Global Special Situations & World strategy in April 2024. He joined from Liontrust (formerly Majedie Asset Management), where he managed the Global Equities, Global Focus, and International Equity (ex-US) funds and served as Head of Global Equities. Previously, Tom was a portfolio manager at Baillie Gifford, managing international and emerging markets portfolios after joining as an analyst in 2002. He holds MA and MNatSci degrees in Biochemistry from Pembroke College, Cambridge, and is a CFA Charterholder.
Risk
The managers are conscious of the fund’s benchmark and will therefore have only modest differences between sectors or geographies. Fidelity Global Special Situations is very well diversified, with 80 to 120 holdings. This limits the impact of any one stock on the fund's performance. The three buckets approach will also mean that the fund will not be exposed to any one investment style.
Company Description
Fidelity International is a financial services corporation established in 1969. With offices in more than 20 countries, its product range spans mutual funds, defined contribution pensions, segregated portfolios and multi-manager offerings. Awarded the Elite Equities Provider rating in 2017, 2019 and 2020, Fidelity compensates managers on long-term performance, illustrating its intention to align interests with clients.
Talking Factsheet
Investment process
While the managers are aware of macroeconomic events, their ideas are driven at the stock level by Fidelity's large team of global analysts. Investments fall into one of three pillars – with Christine and Tom making some changes to create a stylistically broader and more balanced portfolio.
The three investment pillars reflect value, quality, and growth. Crucially, within each of these pillars, the managers seek companies undergoing an element of change, which serves as a catalyst to unlock or accelerate long-term value. That change can take various forms: internal restructuring or cyclical recovery in the value pillar, fundamental improvements that support long-term compounding in businesses in the quality pillar, or structural changes that enable rapid growth for a long period in the growth pillar. The managers say this has broadened the shape of the portfolio – which now holds between 80-120 stocks.
Risk
The managers are conscious of the fund’s benchmark and will therefore have only modest differences between sectors or geographies. Fidelity Global Special Situations is very well diversified, with 80 to 120 holdings. This limits the impact of any one stock on the fund's performance. The three buckets approach will also mean that the fund will not be exposed to any one investment style.
ESG
ESG - Integrated
The team works closely with analysts and the ESG team to evaluate ESG factors throughout the process and are believers in sustainability, both as a matter of principle and as a key driver of investment returns. As such, the team strives to gain an in-depth understanding of the relevant ESG issues applicable to their investments through the bottom-up research process, company engagement, active ownership and industry collaboration. Overall, the portfolio management team believes integrating ESG requires a holistic approach and is not simply a function of investing in those companies with strong ESG characteristics while avoiding those with poor ESG scores. The direction of travel matters and, as shareholders, they believe they can influence positive change for improved investor outcomes.
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