Overview
History of the Firm
City of London Investment Management Company Limited (“CLIM” or the “Firm”) is a wholly
owned subsidiary of City of London Investment Group PLC (“CLIG”) and was founded in 1991 by
Barry Olliff. The company was formed out of Olliff & Partners PLC (“O&P”), an agency stockbroker
specializing in UK investment trusts founded by Mr. Olliff in 1987. CLIG is listed on the London
Stock Exchange. In 2018 CLIM hired an experienced REIT team to further expand our investment
strategies offered to clients. On 1 October 2020, CLIG completed a merger with Karpus
Management Inc. (“KIM”), a US-based registered investment adviser.
As part of the brokerage research effort, O&P identified significant pricing inefficiencies
particularly in those closed-end funds giving emerging markets exposure. CLIM was established
in 1991 to capitalize on these inefficiencies and the first active emerging markets closed-end fund
product, a UK unit trust named The Emerging Markets Country Trust, was launched in September
1991. CLIM launched a US institutional product in 1994 and further institutional funds for North
American clients were launched as emerging markets benchmarks developed. CLIM has since
launched closed-end fund products covering Frontier, Global and Developed markets, as well as
launching two REIT products covering Emerging and International REITs.
Currently, US institutional investors constitute the majority of the Firm’s assets under
management.
CLIM operates from three centres: London, Philadelphia and Singapore,
managing assets for
primarily institutional investors.
Description of Advisory Services
CLIM provides investment advisory services to pooled investment vehicles, investment
companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and foreign registered mutual
funds based on the investment objectives and restrictions as set forth in each prospectus or
similar offering document. CLIM serves as the investment manager to certain pooled investment
vehicles, each organized as a Delaware Statutory Trust (the “CLIM Funds”). In addition, CLIM
provides discretionary investment advisory services to separate account clients based on
individual objectives, client restrictions and guidelines of each client, as outlined by the client in
the investment management agreement, and other factors deemed relevant by the client and
disclosed to CLIM. Certain of these separate account clients may be determined by CLIM to be
non-discretionary accounts in that all investment transactions require notification to or pre-
approval from the client prior to purchase or sale. In some instances, client accounts have similar
investment objectives but are charged different fees. The variation in fee structure of these
accounts is generally reflective of asset size, strategy and the complexity of managing the
account. CLIM’s fees for advisory services are described under “Fees and Compensation.”
As of August 31, 2023, CLIM managed approximately $5.8 billion of client assets on a
discretionary basis.