Slaters close Firecrest fund business 4 months after launch

Jim Slater and Mark Slater’s investment boutique Firecrest Fund Management is to be wound up just months after it launched.

According to documents filed with Companies House on 12 October, Firecrest is to be liquidated under the Insolvency Act. 

Citywire understands the business was shut down after Jim Slater pulled his investment from the firm.  

The father and son team set up Firecrest in June alongside Nigel Milton - the former editor of Investing for Growth - who served as investment adviser at the firm.

Jim Slater is one of the most recognised growth investors in the UK and author of The Zulu Principle: Making Extraordinary Profits from Ordinary Shares.

His son Mark first dabbled in fund management as a teenager in 1986, running an active personal portfolio. He went on to set up Slater Investments in 1994 and now manages the MFM Slater Recovery and MFM Bowland funds. 

Firecrest was founded on the Slater’s traditional growth principles, targeting firms on low price-to-earnings ratios with the potential to deliver strong earnings growth.

On 8 June the firm launched the Consistent Growth fund, which focused on the UK Smaller Companies sector. It hoped to raise £50 million for the portfolio. At the time, Milton said that the firm had plans to launch a number of funds, including a special situations fund.

Neither Milton nor the Slaters were available for comment.