Cohen & Steers has a launched a fund backing real estate securities, infrastructure, gold-related instruments and commodities.
The global investment manager, which specialises in liquid real assets, said that the Diversified Real Assets fund aims to offer inflation protection and portfolio diversification for investors.
“A diversified blend of real assets has historically delivered equity-like returns over full market cycles, leading to improved risk-adjusted return potential, not simply lower absolute volatility,” said Marc Haynes, head of sales and client Service, EMEA, at Cohen & Steers UK.
However Minesh Patel, from financial adviser EA Solutions in London, said that he had not heard of Cohen & Steers, and that the fund was entering a market full of infrastructure funds, where it could struggle to stand out.
“It will be hard for them coming in without the brand awareness,” he said.
He added that it was an “interesting” strategy to have infrastructure and commodities such as gold in the same fund.
“I’m not sure how much correleation there is,” he said.
