RLAM launches Global equity funds

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RLAM launches Global equity funds

Royal London Asset Management will launch a pair of global equity funds, to be managed by a trio of investors who joined the firm from Waverton earlier this year.

Peter Rutter, Will Keaney and James Clarke joined Royal London from Waverton in January 2017, and took with them some institutional mandates and the £132m Wavereton Global Core Equity fund.

Mr Rutter is now head of global equities at Royal London, and with his colleagues will run two new funds, Royal London Global Equity Select fund, and Royal London Global Equity Diversified fund.

The former will own a concentrated portfolio of between 25 and 40 stocks.

The fund will aim to outperform the MSCI World Net Total Return index by 2.5 per cent a year over rolling three-year periods.

The Royal London Global Equity Diversified fund will own a larger number of stocks.

Country and sector exposures are expected to be broadly in line with the fund's benchmark, the MSCI World Net Total Return index.

The Diversified fund will aim to outperform this benchmark by 0.5 per cent a year over rolling three-year periods.

Piers Hillier, chief investment officer at Royal London Asset Management, said: “Having seen significant client demand for global equity products, we’re pleased to offer clients a pair of strategies which can harness the time-tested approach of our new global equity team.”

Adrian Lowcock, investment director at Architas, said: "The biggest challenge for the Royal London Global Equity Select fund is how it is going to differentiate itself from the peer group.

"While global funds are very popular at the moment this fund has a similar basic premise to other funds in the sector and running a concentrated portfolio isn’t new.

"Combining analysis of where we are in the economic cycle does help differentiate the fund from some of its peers and is likely to lead it to having a value bias, which does help differentiate it from some their well known peers.”

“The Royal London Global Equity Diversified fund doesn’t have particular ambitious return objectives aiming to beat the benchmark just by 0.5 per cent a year.

"Whilst its focus on stock selection should help to achieve that the restriction of country and sector to closely follow the benchmark means now value can be added from a macro perspective and indeed limits the full benefits of any stock selection skills the managers may have.  

"It is however a fund which asset allocators can easily identify with as they know what the allocation to each region will be.

"Overall this doesn’t feel much more than a tracker plus fund, so I would expect to see costs kept to a minimum."

david.thorpe@ft.com