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Leading multi-managers have said they are looking increasingly at equity income outside the UK following a series of fund launches in the area.

Gary Potter and Rob Burdett, managers at Thames River Capital, flagged up current investments in the £16.7m Lazard Global Equity Income and the £46.5m Schroder Global Dividend Maximiser funds, particularly in their £6.5m Thames River Distribution vehicle.

Aidan Kearney and Graham Duce, co-heads of multi-manager at Credit Suisse, have also been seeking equity income in specific regions outside the UK.

In Asia, they have the £152.6m Newton Asian Income fund as a top-10 holding in their £47.3m Multi-Manager Multi Asset Distribution portfolio and their £49.2m UK Income portfolio.

The pair have also invested assets from three separate funds in the $570.2m (£291.5m) Allianz GIS RCM Total Return Asian Equity fund, one of whose main aims is to pick high-yielding stocks.

In Europe, the duo have selected the £456.8m Resolution Argonaut European Income fund for the £283.3m Multi-Manager Cautious Managed and UK Income portfolios. They have also chosen BNP Paribas's £115m Euro High Income and £38m US High Income funds for the Multi Asset Distribution portfolio.

Mr Potter said investors were looking to diversify their income exposure. "There's no doubt UK equity income has been a solid anchor for people when they've been looking to get income from equities. But two things are happening. First, more overseas companies have been producing reasonable dividends. Second, there are increasing concerns about the outlook for UK equities compared to global equities."

Mr Potter said the outlook for income vehicles outside the UK was sound. "We will see more funds in this space. There's a whole 90 per cent of the world in terms of investible indices outside the UK, some of which is producing a growing income."

He expressed particular interest in funds like Schroder Global Dividend Maximiser that use covered call options to enhance their income returns. Covered call writers gain extra revenue by selling options to buy stocks that they already hold.

Mr Duce said he was likely to invest in the global equity income space given the entry of some of the large asset managers. But he warned performance and asset allocation on the available funds can diverge greatly.

Kevin Tooze, managing director at Essex-based IFA Equity Partners, expressed even larger reservations. "Global at the moment is becoming more favourable. But how you get a high degree of income from global equities I don't know. It's a more specialist area."