TILLIT removes Supermarket Income REIT from recommended list after engagement failures

investmentweek.co.uk:

Sheridan Admans, head of fund selection at TILLIT, said the decision was 'not taken lightly' to ousted the trust from the list, but he maintained that in order for the firm to make its best portfolio recommendations, it needed to have regular meetings with portfolio managers.

TILLIT said it had removed the trust from the TILLIT Universe — a collection of what it believes to be best-in-class portfolios and assets — after the investment trust «ignored multiple attempts» to engage with its investment committee.

The platform said it «firmly believes that it is in investors' interests that its investment committee assesses not just what fund managers write, but how they say it and how it aligns with decisions made in the portfolio — this requires access to meetings with the fund manager at least once a year».

«The team managing Supermarket Income REIT has ignored repeated attempts by TILLIT to engage. Subsequently, TILLIT has concluded that it is no longer suitable for inclusion in its fund universe,» it added. 

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Sheridan Admans, head of fund selection at TILLIT, said the decision was «not taken lightly» to oust the trust from the list, but he maintained that in order for the firm to make its best portfolio recommendations, it needed to have regular meetings with portfolio managers.

«We make it abundantly clear at the outset that the only non-negotiable in a fund being onboarded once it has been selected is access to the investment team at least once a year. Therefore, though rare, some funds may be removed from the Universe from time to time,» he said.

The update will mean that investors already holding Supermarket Income REIT