About us

Fundsmith is focused on delivering superior investment performance at a reasonable cost. It was established to be different from its peers so as to achieve a different result in line with Sir John Templeton’s axiom that “If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd.” The rigorous research process of Fundsmith is central to what we do.

Fundsmith was established in 2010 by Terry Smith. The business is owned and controlled by its partners, who have worked closely together over many years, and is headquartered in London with offices in Connecticut, USA and Mauritius. It is structured to survive Terry Smith’s demise and continue with the same investment philosophy. All partners of the firm have a significant co-investment in our Funds delivering a clear alignment of interest. Ancillary activities are outsourced to some of the world's leading providers in order to deliver high-quality operations whilst allowing the Fundsmith team to focus on investment analysis, portfolio management and customer care. As at 31st December 2021 we managed £43bn on behalf of some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated wealth managers and private banks as well as for prominent families, charities, endowments and individuals invested in our fund range; Fundsmith Equity Fund (UK OEIC); Fundsmith SICAV (Luxembourg SICAV); Fundsmith Equity Fund L.P. (Delaware L.P.); Fundsmith Global Equity Fund Feeder (Mauritius Expert Fund); Fundsmith Sustainable Equity Fund (UK OEIC); Fundsmith Sustainable Equity Fund L.P. (Delaware L.P.); Fundsmith Emerging Equities Trust plc (London Stock Exchange listed investment trust); Smithson Investment Trust plc (London Stock Exchange listed investment trust) and Smithson L.P. (Delaware L.P.).

Directors

Martin was articled with Pannell Kerr Forster & Co, London, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1970 and obtained a masters degree at the London Business School in 1974. Until July 2007 he was Chief Executive of C.I. Traders, taking up this role in August 2002 when it acquired Le Riche Group. Prior to this he had been Chairman of Premier Brands and held a number of financial and general management appointments in Calor Gas, Rank Group, SmithKline Beecham and Cadbury Schweppes. He has served as an independent member of the boards of a number of commercial, banking and investment companies including Gartmore Capital Strategy Fund Limited and Acorn Income Fund Limited. He is a trustee of a number of charitable trusts; including the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust of which he is a Life Trustee.

John Spencer qualified as a chartered accountant in 1966 and worked with KPMG from 1966 to 1969. He joined Barclays Bank in 1969 and held a variety of posts, including President of Barclays Bank of New York and chief executive of the USA Banking division. He returned to the UK in 1990 as deputy chief executive of BZW and chief executive of the Global Markets division and was appointed a member of the Group Executive Committee. He was Non-Executive Chairman of Regent Inns plc from 1995 to 1998 and served as Non-Executive Chairman of Softtechnet.com plc, a director of Numerica Group plc and Chief Executive of Snell & Wilcox Limited, a private company. He was appointed Director of Tullett Prebon (originally Collins Stewart) in 2000 until 2007 where he was the Senior Independent Non-executive Director and a member of the Audit, Remuneration and Nominations Committees. He is a Non-Executive Director of tpSEF Inc. John is Chairman of the Audit Committee and is the Senior Independent Director.

Appointed to the Board of Directors on 1 June 2018, Rachel has over thirty years of international investment industry experience having held senior roles in Jersey and Australia. She began her career with Laurie, Milbank & Co in Jersey and was a Director of Matheson Securities (CI) Ltd (owned by the Jardine Matheson Group) from 1993 to 1997, subsequently moving to a role specialising in advisory and client portfolio management services with Wilson Investment Group Ltd in Australia. From 2013 to 2018 Rachel was Managing Director, Jersey Branch of IAM Advisory, which provides an independent investment advisory service, including performance measurement and manager research, to professional trustees, charities, sovereign wealth and UHNWI clients. Rachel is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), having been previously elected a Member of the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and is a designated Chartered Wealth Manager. She holds the CISI Diploma and has a Masters of Applied Finance, the Institute of Directors (IoD) Diploma in Company Direction and is a Member of the IoD. Rachel is Chair of the Management Engagement Committee.

Appointed to the Board of Directors on 26 May 2021, Professor McGregor is a financial communications specialist and has been Executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University since 2016. Professor McGregor is a Director of Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia and International Game Technology Plc.

Portfolio Management and Research

Terry Smith graduated in History from University College Cardiff in 1974. He worked for Barclays Bank from 1974-83 and became an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in 1976. He obtained an MBA at The Management College, Henley in 1979. He became a stockbroker with W Greenwell & Co in 1984 and later joined Barclays de Zoete Wedd, holding the position of the top-rated bank analyst in London from 1984-89. In 1990 he became head of UK Company Research at UBS Phillips & Drew, a position from which he was dismissed in 1992 following the publication of his best selling book Accounting for Growth. He joined Collins Stewart shortly after, and became a director in 1996. In 2000 he became Chief Executive and led the management buy-out of Collins Stewart, which was floated on the London Stock Exchange five months later. In 2003 Collins Stewart acquired Tullett Liberty and followed this in 2004 with the acquisition of Prebon Group, creating the world's second largest inter-dealer broker. Collins Stewart and Tullett Prebon were demerged in 2006 with Terry remaining CEO of Tullett Prebon until September 2014. In 2010 he founded Fundsmith where he is CEO and CIO. In 2012 he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to New Zealand-UK relations following the success of his campaign to commemorate the New Zealander, Air Marshal Sir Keith Park.

Michael joined from Canaccord Genuity (formerly Collins Stewart) where he spent more than a decade as an analyst covering a wide range of sectors and geographies. He was instrumental in the development of the company’s research product and institutional franchise. Michael began his career at Guinness Flight Global Asset Management (subsequently Investec Asset Management) in 1994 as an analyst before taking responsibility for the group’s UK Small and Emerging Companies Funds in 1997, and subsequently the Recovery Fund. Michael holds an MPhil from Cambridge University.

Jonathan joined from Canaccord Genuity, where he had been a senior technology analyst since 2010. He was previously at Altium Securities where he covered technology for 6 years, latterly becoming the Head of Research. Prior to Altium, he worked at Dresdner Kleinwort covering emerging markets equity research and subsequently pan-European IT services in the large cap technology team. Jonathan was Techmark analyst of the year in 2007 and was number 1 or 2 in his sector in the FT Starmine survey between 2006 and 2010. Prior to taking up a career as an analyst, Jonathan wrote country investment reports covering Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Guatemala, India, Russia, Hungary and Zimbabwe. Jonathan has an MBA from INSEAD and is a fluent Spanish speaker.

Tom joined Fundsmith having completed an MSc in Economics and Finance from the University of Bristol with distinction in 2012, where his dissertation was on Persistence of Performance in the Mutual Fund Management Industry. He completed a BSc in Economics in 2011, also at Bristol University, having conducted work experience at Odey Asset Management and Neptune Investment Management. Tom is a CFA® charter holder.