Regulated whisky fund targets UK investors

The world’s first regulated and publicly listed investment fund for whisky has expanded to the UK and is stipulating a minimum investment of €100,000 (£87,000/US$111,000) per investor.

Ed Forrest joined The Single Malt Fund this year

The Single Malt Fund was launched by Swedish entrepreneur and whisky enthusiast Christian Svantesson and has been fully operational for six months, giving collectors and investors the chance to invest in rare and limited edition whisky.

The fund is supervised by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and is listed on the Nordic Growth Market exchange in Stockholm. It is aiming to raise a maximum of €25 million (US$28m) and has already started to collect capital from Sweden’s retail investors.

Now, the fund is seeking to target professional investors in the UK via wealth managers and family offices. Headquartered in Dublin, the fund is “tapping into demand” among high-net-worth individuals for alternative assets.

In order to avoid the fluctuations of the secondary market, the fund focuses on buying stock below market price on the primary market.

“By launching this fund, we are tapping into a growing demand among high-net-worth individuals for investing in alternative assets such as art, wine, cars and watches,” said Svantesson.

“However, unlike any other passion pursuit, The Single Malt Fund is regulated and listed on a public exchange, making our investment process fully transparent.

“We believe that this strong corporate governance, aligned to whisky’s strong performance in the secondary market, will appeal to the clients of wealth managers and family offices, offering a truly unique investment proposition.”

Former LVMH and Diageo executive Ed Forrest (pictured) was recently recruited to run operations for the fund, with responsibility for buying and selling whisky.

The fund’s whisky under management will also be made available for investors to buy first once its investment target is achieved. The fund aims to turnover 60% of its stock per year, which will be aided with the opening of an online store in January.

“The Single Malt Fund is unique in that we are not only creating a vehicle for whisky enthusiasts to invest in whisky,” added Svantesson, “we are also allowing them to indulge in their passion by providing first access to bottles of rare and collectable whisky once the fund decides to sell.”

Some of the “most notable” investments the fund has secured so far include a cask of 1977 Littlemill, a 37-year-old Port Ellen and a full collection of Midleton Very Rare releases.

Earlier this year, rare whisky topped the Knight Frank Investment Index after its value rose by 40%. However, the rare whisky investment market suffered its first “blip” in the first half of this year, after an index of the best-performing 1,000 bottles declined slightly.