Asset manager Aviva Investors, part of Aviva plc, has launched the first of several multi-strategy funds planned for Australia.

 

The launch marks the asset firm’s renewed focus under Aviva Investors chief executive Euan Munro to deliver solutions shaped to meet the financial goals of customers, says the company in a release.

 

The Aviva Investors Multi-Strategy (AIMS) Target Return Fund aims to deliver a return of 5% per annum above the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) base rate over any rolling three-year period by investing, via the AIMS Target Return Fund (SICAV), in a globally diversified multi-strategy portfolio. The fund aims to reach its target return while limiting the volatility of returns compared with an investment in global equities.

 

AIMS Target Return is Aviva Investors’ first major initiative under Munro, who is a pioneer of global multi-asset investing and chairs the Strategic Investment Group, a company-wide forum that provides the fund managers with investment ideas, says Brett Jackson, the firm’s head of business development for Australasia.

 

Launched globally in the United Kingdom on July 1 2014, the AIMS Target Return strategy has asset under management of over £1.12 billion (US$1.7 billion) as of April 23.

 

Ian Pizer, head of investment strategy, Peter Fitzgerald, head of multi-assets, and Dan James, global head of rates will run the strategy on a day-to-day basis, says the company. The managers, who are experienced in multi-asset and target return investing, will be supported by the risk analysis and investment strategy teams.

 

“The Multi-Strategy range reflects our renewed focus as a business. We aim to deliver simple and specific outcomes that clients will value, ignoring traditional benchmarks and instead combining our considerable expertise in real estate, fixed income and equities together into compelling solutions,” Munro says.

 

To achieve the target return, the fund’s managers will invest across different assets and countries, from company shares, fixed income securities and deposits to other regulated funds. The fund seeks multi-year timeframe opportunities identified by research and analysis, while managing overall portfolio risk over both the long term and the short term. 

 

The creative approach of the fund focuses on three key tenets: opportunities are more likely to exist at a horizon of three years; looking across and within asset classes allows for the greatest opportunity set; and specialists are more likely to spot opportunities than generalists.

 

"The fund is unconstrained by a benchmark, with assets allocated between investment strategies depending on how much each strategy contributes to fund risk. This means that in aiming to meet the investment objective, the fund managers can invest as much or as little as they want across asset classes and geographies,” Pizer says.