George David Astor

Engages in the insurance and reinsurance businesses

HIM is an active, long-term investment manager which follows a stock-picking approach and runs concentrated portfolios. They seek absolute returns in their investment approach and use benchmarks for monitoring fund performance. They invest for the long-term and believe that the interests of their shareholders are best served by a buy and hold approach. The firm follows a specialist approach to portfolio management, undertaking bottom-up analysis and using their industry contacts to provide anecdotal research. They place particular emphasis on the integrity and competence of the management of their investee companies preferring to own the best quality companies rather than those that appear cheap on a short-term trading basis. They recognize that benchmarks are an important measuring tool and not a guide to asset allocation and sector weightings. Hiscox Insurance Portfolio Fund is a UK registered OEIC that is invested exclusively in a portfolio of quoted international insurance shares.