Absa Active Asset Management says its recently announced partnership with UK-based Schroders will now give local investors access to the Global Recovery Fund by the end of November, giving them a wider choice and access to global equities.
This is in addition to the Global Core Equity Fund launched last month by the two firms.
“These two funds are in line with our strategic intent to ensure ongoing competitiveness in offering offshore investment products and solutions on a standalone basis. Our clients will now have access to the two equity portfolios that can be accessed in three formats – either individually or part of the balanced or absolute return offerings,” says Armien Tyer, the head of the Investment Cluster at Barclays Africa Group.
The Global Core Equity Fund offers local investors core exposure to Global Equities in a portfolio which has a long track record of outperforming the index without taking too much benchmark relative risk. According to Robin Stoakley, the CEO of Schroders Mutual Fund Business, the strategy is for investors who want a core allocation to global equities which aims to produce steady outperformance of the MSCI World index over time.
“Global Recovery offers exposure to global equities with a focus on companies which are currently out of favour with investors and as a result are very cheap. The approach is suitable for long term investors who are seeking returns over time which may well be in excess of the index. The strategy is likely to be higher risk than the Global Equity Core fund because it is an unconstrained approach with a contrarian style,” he says.
Both funds are equity funds and therefore suit investors looking for long term exposure to global equity markets. Essentially South African investors will now benefit from two leading global equity strategies from a global asset manager with £309bn under management and a long term and active approach to investment.
“As a firm this partnership gives Schroders much greater bandwidth in South Africa. Schroders has had a long and deep relationship with the Barclays Africa Group and our partnership with Absa significantly deepens that,” adds Stoakley.
The two firms are working on widening the offering to local investors and several other funds are in the pipeline for 2016. “When we entered into the partnership with Schroders and launched the two equity offerings it was always with the end client in mind. While the Rand may be weak now, markets very volatile, the need for having an offshore allocation in a diversified competitive offering is perennial. What we are now focused on is finding alternative offshore exposures that are clients can benefit from which is very exciting, so watch this space,” concludes Tyer.