Dampier says that the criticisms of his latest venture have been overstated and that anyone who has made sensationalist accusations are giving the industry a bad name.
"I think a lot of people, and particularly the media, have done a huge disservice to investors," he said.
"It’s just mindless. Yes, the trust fell to around 70p, but the market fell as well. Anthony (pictured) did fall further but that’s hardly surprising – he underperformed [as manager of the Fidelity Special Situations fund] for three of four years at a time in the 1990s, but everyone keeps forgetting that."
"I think the media have a huge responsibility as they’re becoming more and more influential. I think the treatment has been really poor – everyone goes on about how investors shouldn’t be too short-termist, and yet one of the few managers with a track record going back to the 1970s gets slammed for a bad couple of years.""If you actually look at the numbers, he hasn’t done all that badly, even if you forget you’re looking at a short period. I think a lot of people are out there to get him," he added.
Dampier’s comments are well-timed: as of today, the Fidelity China Special Situations IT is outperforming its MSCI China benchmark since launch for the first time since May 2011.
Performance of trust and index since launch
Source: FE Analytics
From a net asset value (NAV) point of view – which doesn’t take into account the widening and narrowing of discounts – Bolton’s trust is now ahead of the index.
Fidelity China Special Situations’ discount has come in slightly recently, at 8.18 per cent.
Dampier thinks the trust is good value for anyone who is confident that China is not about to go through a major crisis.
"I’m kicking myself I didn’t get more of it when it hit 70p," he said.
Bolton is set to relinquish responsibility of the trust in April 2014 – the same month that Neil Woodford plans to leave Invesco Perpetual – with Dale Nicholls taking over.
Dampier rejects claims that Bolton’s decision to take over a China trust was for money and tax reasons, believing that the manager is as hungry for success as ever.
"It was issued with a lot of hype, so I can see why there would be some disappointment, but it hasn’t been his market," Dampier continued.
"He likes the small and mid cap domestic companies which have had a tough time, but I personally think he’s got the portfolio of tomorrow, while a lot of the others – which have done better – have the portfolio of yesterday."
"I personally think Anthony has retired a little too early. I believe he has more to give, and it’s a shame that the media were given the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon."
"Yes, fund managers are motivated by money, but I think you’ve also got the schoolboy mentality of outdoing your rivals. Anthony still has that. I saw him last year and he hasn’t lost any of his enthusiasm."
"The only thing about the trust I don’t like is the performance fee, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw Fidelity do something about that sometime soon," he added.
As Dampier alluded to earlier, Bolton has been arguably the most successful fund manager in the UK over the last 30 years. He has been responsible for a number of top-performing portfolios, but is known best for his Fidelity Special Sits fund.
FE Analytics shows that the fund returned a whopping 14,124 per cent under Bolton, who ran it from December 1979 until December 2007.
Our data on Bolton and his peer group composite only goes back to 2000, and as the graph below shows, the Fidelity manager comes out well on top.
Performance of manager and peers since Jan 2000
Source: FE Analytics
Fidelity China Special Situations IT has ongoing charges of 1.78 per cent, but this does not include a 15 per cent fee on anything achieved in excess of 2 per cent above the MSCI China index on an annual basis.
