The Fidelity China Special Situations fund is a closed-ended vehicle that invests in a diversified portfolio consisting primarily of securities issued by companies listed in China or Hong Kong and Chinese companies listed elsewhere.

Andrew Merricks, head of investments at Skerritts Consultants, reviews Anthony Bolton's latest fund.

'This investment trust launch has created quite a stir, being managed by one of the better-known fund managers of recent times, Anthony Bolton, and focusing upon probably the most talked about market – China.

'I can’t believe that anyone is not aware of the Chinese ‘story’ – massive urbanisation programme, rapidly expanding economy, culturally and demographically developing global Goliath – but is now the time to take a financial interest in it if you have not done so already?

'And if now is the time, should you entrust your funds to a manager who has built his reputation investing in the UK market as opposed to a China specialist, and who has already retired once?

'Taking the second question first, having met Mr Bolton on a couple of occasions recently, I am not overly worried about his apparent lack of experience investing in China. Stock markets are ever more global in nature nowadays and have very similar characteristics to one another.

'Fidelity’s research capabilities are excellent, and I particularly like the fact that Bolton can, and will, be able to tap into Fidelity’s Asian venture capital arm, thus gaining early access to future IPOs that will not be readily available to other investment houses. He has committed to run the fund for at least two years and has become the personification of a Bolton Wanderer by moving to Hong Kong with his wife.

'My bigger concern is about the timing of the launch. I’m sure that if they had the choice today, Fidelity would have wanted to have launched the trust a year ago or delayed it for six months. Right now, there is uncertainty over which direction China is headed, due to a strong global recovery over the past 12 months or so coupled with noises coming out of Beijing about increasing interest rates and preventing the economy from overheating. A short-term correction would be no surprise in most quarters but, as we know, market timing is notoriously difficult.

'It may well be the case that investors will be able to purchase this trust more cheaply later in the year as markets decline. However, if you are looking for access to China, and the potential that it offers, it is a far longer-term story than just the next six months, so to buy into this trust would not be the most foolish thing to do by any means.'