Clarity Funds Management is set to launch a new global equities product managed by the US$1.9 trillion US-based Capital Group.
Josh Wilson, Clarity chief investment officer, said the new fund could be open for business as early as next month.
“We’re very excited about the opportunity to work with one of the world’s foremost fund managers,” Wilson said.
He said the Clarity Capital Group New Perspective Fund would be structured as a portfolio investment entity (PIE) with a 50 per cent hedge to the NZ dollar.
Clarity already badges an international shares PIE managed by the Boston-headquartered investment firm, MFS, but Wilson said the two funds follow different styles.
“The two fund sit well alongside each other,” he said. “MFS blends quantitative and fundamental research while Capital is more thematic.”
Capital has 11 Australian unit trusts registered in NZ under the trans-Tasman mutual recognition agreement but has been promoting the New Perspective fund, in particular, here along with third-party marketing firm, Heathcote Investment Partners.
Last week, Matt Reynolds, investment director at Capital’s Australia office, told a Heathcote ‘Meet the managers’ roadshow that the New Perspectives fund was built in the 1970s to “invest in trends that will change the world”.
Reynolds, who joined Capital last October after more than a decade with Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM), said the fund currently taps into several major trends including data, digital disruption and the “new age of medicine”.
But he said the trends emerge out of the manager’s unique bottom-up investment style – known as the ‘Capital System’ – that grants wide portfolio selection powers to a number of different teams who are free to pursue their “best ideas”.
While the teams are accountable for results, Reynolds said the method avoids “star” manager risks without letting bureaucracy stifle performance.
The process, he said, results in adding “little bits of alpha all the time”.
Launched in 2015, the Australian version of the New Perspective fund has returned 10 per cent after fees since inception compared to the benchmark MSCI All World Index (ex Australia) performance of 9.3 per cent. Over the 12 months to March 31 this year, the fund was up 13.3 per cent against the index 10.7 per cent
In Australian dollar terms, the New Perspective strategy returned 13.5 per cent after fees since its launch in March 1973 compared to the benchmark 10 per cent.
The Australian unit trust has more than A$330 million under management while globally the Capital strategy holds about US$84 billion.
Wilson said the imminent Capital PIE product would be available on both Aegis and FNZ as well as the platform operated by sister company, Select Wealth.
He said the firm had yet to decide whether the Capital PIE would join MFS in the Clarity diversified growth fund.
The manager currently offers four underlying PIE funds covering Australasian equities, NZ fixed income and the MFS global shares fund. Also, Clarity is about to launch a new Māori values-based wholesale offering – the Tahito fund – to be managed by Wilson and joint venture partner, Temuera Hall.
Clarity is part of the Investment Services Group (ISG) that also includes Select, JMI Wealth and Devon Funds Management.