Baillie Gifford and the three quandaries of fund management

THE HOME of the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (SMIT) is an office a mile down the road from Edinburgh Castle. Aside from that it has little to do with Scotland, and nothing at all to do with mortgages. This makes it an apt flagship for Baillie Gifford, a British investment manager that prides itself on its unconventionality. Baillie Gifford’s 12 trusts and 33 funds together oversee assets worth £346bn ($466bn). That puts it well below the heavyweight category for global fund managers, whose members hold assets in the trillions. Yet the firm and its star vehicle hold wider lessons for other fund managers.