Panama Papers: David Cameron father’s Panama fund hit by run of bad bets

A fund at the centre of the political storm involving Prime Minister David Cameron’s late father is lagging the world market after collapsing in value during 2016 due to a string of bad bets.

The Smith & Williamson Blairmore Global Equity fund, one of the offshore funds thrown into the spotlight since the release of the Panama Papers, has lost its well-heeled investors 5% cumulatively since the turn of the year.

A similar index — called the MSCI World Index — is down by 1.7% in comparison The loss is embarrassing given the recent focus on the Blairmore fund, which was founded by Ian Cameron in Panama in 1982. It moved to Dublin in 2012, where it is currently based. Data from Trustnet shows the fund has lost 8.8% over the past 12 months after its Japanese and oil investments turned sour. It had risen by 5.8% over three years.

Blairmore declined to comment.