Funds and trusts four pros are buying and selling: Q4 2025

The FTSE 100 has hovered near its all-time peaks, and gold and silver have soared to new records. At the same time, trade tensions and inflation are keeping investors concerned, as volatility may rise. It remains to be seen if artificial intelligence (AI) optimism keeps sustaining markets.

Against this backdrop, our fund-of-funds investors continue to take a range of approaches to portfolio positioning.

Each quarter, our multi-manager panel shares their current bull and bear perspectives, along with the funds and investment trusts they have recently bought, added to, or sold.

• Our Services: SIPP Account | Stocks & Shares ISA | See all Investment Accounts

Simon Evan-Cook, manager of the Downing Fox Funds

Reason to be bullish: the most bullish thing to say on the economy is that it probably isn’t as bad as you feel it is, GDP growth rates across most major economies are mildly positive and forecast to stay that way too.

Reason to be bearish: the disruption caused firstly by fear of tariffs, and then by imposition of the tariffs themselves (albeit at lower levels than initially announced) are yet to feed through into the economic numbers. Bond credit spreads are also at multi-decade lows, suggesting you’re not getting paid much for taking certain risks today.

Bought: Evan-Cook added Hywel Franklin’s Mirabaud-Discovery Europe ex UK fund during the quarter. “We admire the manager’s discipline, process and drive, and are impressed with how he’s negotiating the market’s tricky, swirling conditions,” he says.

Increased: having added Mark Ellis’Nutshell Growth fund into their portfolios in the previous quarter, Evan-Cook’s team have topped up their position in the past few months. He says: “The focus on quality is always a draw, but this fund’s process of reacting to market movements, instead of just being buffeted by them, gives it an extra edge in these turbulent conditions.”

Sold: his team sold their position in Stewart Investors European (ex UK) All Cap, which was closed by the firm at the end of September due to its small size. This fund’s style has been deeply out of favour for years. “We were happy to wait for its time to come back round again, but the company decided to close it down, so we sold out,” he says.

• Are these investment trusts the bargain of the decade?
• Eight supersized funds that aren’t victims of their own success

Paul Green, co-portfolio manager, CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust

Reason to be bullish:economic fundamentals remain reasonable, with companies and consumers adjusting well to the ‘new normal’ interest rate environment. Earnings growth appears robust, and investors appear to have shrugged off tariff concerns.

Reason to be bearish:despite fundamentals looking robust, the sharp rebound from the April volatility has led to valuations looking less attractive in certain areas.

Bought: Green has bought Pantheon Infrastructure Ord (LSE:PINT), which invests in infrastructure companies globally, accessing exciting private businesses such as data centre operators, logistics and power generators.

He points out: “The trust has exhibited decent Net Asset Value growth since inception, in a tough backdrop for infrastructure, and has recently announced its first asset transaction.”

Greenadds that it is managed by high-quality managers Richard Sem and Ben Perkins, as part of the wider Pantheon Ventures infrastructure platform. While the trust pays a dividend, they focus on companies that can grow their cash flows, underpinning strong dividend and capital growth over the medium term.

Increased: Green has added to his position in JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI), which he considers to be a high-conviction global equity fund. “The well-regarded in-house research analyst team cover around 2,500 stocks and this portfolio is designed to contain their very best ideas,” he says. The trust pays a dividend yield of 4% and Green has used some recent relative weakness to top up his position.

Reduced: he reduced his position in the Biotech Growth Ord (LSE:BIOG) trust. It has a portfolio of small- and medium-sized biotechnology companies managed by OrbiMed Capital LLC. The biotech industry has been in the doldrums since the turn in the interest rate cycle with biotech highly sensitive to the cost of funding.

“In the past 12 months, uncertainty on drug approval as a result of the changing US administration has also weighed on the sector,” says Green. His team has used the recent rally in the shares to trim their position.

• Ian Cowie: the winners and losers in my ‘forever fund’ in Q3 2025
• Sign up to our free newsletter for investment ideas, latest news and award-winning analysis

Vincent Ropers, co-manager of IFSL Wise Multi-Asset Growth & IFSL Wise Multi-Asset Income

Reason to be bearish: with a weaker jobs market, rising inflation, and increasing concerns about fiscal deficits, cracks are starting to appear in the global economy, even in the US, which has been incredibly resilient until now.

Reason to be bullish: so far, however, the cracks are just that, warning signs that call for some cautiousness, but the macro situation remains fluid. Structural changes such as lower immigration and the higher proportion of consumption coming from high income brackets of the population also suggest that the old rule book might need updating.

Nothing new bought: Ropers and his team didn’t add any new position last quarter. Their usual turnover in terms of holdings tends to be relatively low, he says,“but the price action and events of the past 12 months have led us to add more new positions than usual”. Since they like to run high-conviction funds, he explains the past few months were used to bring these new holdings towards their target weights rather than add new ideas.

Increased: he increased his position in the Odyssean Investment Trust Ord (LSE:OIT) over the quarter. The trust holds a concentrated portfolio of small companies where it believes there is an opportunity to unlock value through operational improvements and strategic focus.

The trust has a skew towards high-quality global, industrial companies which have experienced some cyclical weakness as well as a derating around tariffs.

“However, historically low valuations and an acceleration in mergers andacquisitions (M&A) suggest now is an attractive entry point as many of the near-term headwinds appear to have already been discounted by investors,” says Ropers.

Trimmed: Ropers and his team have trimmed their position in the Jupiter Gold & Silver fund after a rally of close to 50% during the third quarter. Macro and political uncertainty, a weaker US dollar, softer economic data and rate cut expectations in the US have all contributed to gold pushing through new all-time highs, a phenomenon which, in itself, has started to attract more buyers into the precious metal by fear of missing out.

“The Jupiter fund is principally exposed to the gold and silver miners rather than the metal itself, however, and we believe the cheap valuations in the sector and the very high free cash flows generated by the companies should provide significant upside even if gold prices plateau from here,” says Ropers.

Nonetheless, after such strong performance, they decided it is prudent to lock some of their profits in and to cap their weighting in the fund, ensuring a balance between good risk controls and participation in future upside.

• The case for diversifying beyond gold
• Is 4.7% the new magic number for sustainable pension withdrawals?

Tihana Ibrahimpasic, portfolio manager on the multi-asset team at Janus Henderson Investors

Reason to be bullish:despite slowing US payroll growth, signs of a cyclical rebound in survey data and resilient consumer and corporate financial conditions suggest the economy may avoid recession and continue expanding, especially with supportive interest rate policy and growing corporate earnings.

Reason to be bearish: stalling job growth and elevated US recession risk, combined with high valuations in equities and corporate bonds that fail to reflect macroeconomic uncertainty, raise concerns about potential downside if economic momentum falters.

Bought:Ibrahimpasic opened a new position in the Janus Henderson Diversified Alternatives fund, which is a strategy that invests in a diversified portfolio of private equity, specialist credit, property, infrastructure, renewable energy, commodities, and hedge funds.

She notes that it provides a different set of exposures that complements traditional assets well. “It has been one of the best-performing strategies in its peer group,” she says.

Increased:Ibrahimpasic and her teamhave added to their position in BlackRock European Dynamic strategy. She says it is “run by a well-established team and seeks to invest in high-quality, growth-compounding businesses, predominantly in the large-cap space”.

Presently, the fund has a bias towards industrials (aerospace and defense) and bank names, and is structured as a well-diversified portfolio with around 50 names.

Sold: they exited a position in the BlackRock Continental European fund, a long-standing, defensive, income-oriented strategy run by an experienced team. “We took the opportunity to take profits after solid recent performance,” says Ibrahimpasic. She adds that they have consolidatedtheir European equity exposure across style-based building blocks, such as value, quality/growth, size.

• Nick Train and Terry Smith: can pair recover former performance glory?
• Bond Boss: where next after 30-year gilt yields hit headlines?

The four multi-manager panellists

Simon Evan-Cook is a multi-asset, fund-of-funds manager with over 25 years’ experience in the investment industry. He joined Downing in 2022 to set up and manage the Downing Fox range of funds.

Paul Green along with Adam Norris along with became co-manager of CT Global Managed Portfolio Growth Ord (LSE:CMPG) and CT Global Managed Portfolio Income Ord (LSE:CMPI)on 1 June 2025.  They have both been part of the multi-asset team at Columbia Threadneedle since 2016 and 2007 respectively and have a combined investment experience of 35 years. 

The former manager, Peter Hewitt, will continue to support Adam and Paul until his formal retirement at the end of October 2025. The two investment trusts specialise in buying other investment trusts.

Vincent Ropers is a portfolio manager at Wise Funds, responsible for multi-asset strategies, using value and fundamental investment styles. He is co-manager of IFSL Wise Multi-Asset Growth and IFSL Wise Multi-Asset Income.

Tihana Ibrahimpasic is a portfolio manager on the multi-asset team at Janus Henderson Investors. Prior to taking this role in 2021, she was a research analyst in the team from 2018.