International Biotechnology Trust

Biotech exposure with a distinctive dividend

International Biotechnology Trust aims to provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in high-growth Biotechnology and other life sciences companies, both listed and unlisted. The fund is managed by SV Health, which was founded in 1993 and had US$2.8bn under management as at 31 December 2020. In March 2021, Ailsa Craig and Marek Poszepczynski succeeded Carl Harald Janson, who had been lead manager of the fund since 2013. Carl Harald will remain a senior adviser to SV Health Investors and Kate Bingham has returned as investment manager of the unquoted portfolio after a six-month tenure as Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce. The allocation to unquoted companies (11% of NAV as at 31 March 2021) is a differentiating factor and acts to mitigate portfolio volatility. The bi-annual dividend equivalent to 4% of NAV, paid out of capital, is another differentiator. The fund is actively managed, with the managers preferring to avoid binary risks in the quoted portfolio, and stock weightings are therefore adjusted around events such as clinical trial results. Over the last ten years, the fund has generated a NAV total return of +361%, compared with +397% for the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index benchmark and +464% for the Biotechnology & Healthcare peer group.