Investec launches Diversified Income fund with 6% yield target

Investec Asset Management is launching the Diversified Income fund for John Stopford (pictured) and Max King, targeting a yield of up to 6%.

The fund, which is a restructured version of the £75 million Managed Distribution fund formerly run by Alastair Mundy, will adopt a multi-asset approach and will complete the firm’s risk-rated Managed Solutions range ahead of the retail distribution review (RDR).

With the support of the firm’s multi-asset team, Stopford and King will invest primarily in equities, high-yield bonds and emerging market debt.

David Aird, managing director for UK distribution at Investec, said the fund will sit in the same Investment Management Association (IMA) sector – mixed investment 20-60% – and will not change its risk guidelines, although it has yet to be rated by Distribution Technology.

‘We believe there is a low interest rate, low yield environment for a while to come, and that all investors, whether seeking growth or the need to draw on income, have an insatiable demand for income,’ Aird said.

The fund invests in three main strategies, comprising equities, high yield and emerging market debt, as a way to deliver diversified, sustainable income and the potential to grow.

In the equities bucket, which comprises between 20% and 40% of the portfolio, the fund will invest in the universe of stocks used by Mundy in his Temple Bar trust, and the stocks in the firm’s global franchise universe, which consists of high-profile, global names.

The high-yield bucket can constitute between 0% and 50% of the fund.

In the emerging market debt (EMD) bucket, which can account for up to 50% of the fund, Stopford and King will draw from the firm’s blended EMD strategy, in either local or hard currency.

Aird said the fund will directly allocate to stocks and bonds, rather than funds, in order to keep the total expense ratio down, with charges of 1.5% for the A share class and 0.75% annual management charge for the RDR share class. Additional costs will amount to roughly 11 basis points.

‘Charges will be taken out of capital, because when we launched a fund with a specific income requirement, we want to maximise this for investors,’ Aird said. ‘There will be capital growth that can replenish the drag of charges over time.’

Some of the top holdings in the fund include a Ziggo bond yielding 8% and maturing in 2018, Avon Products yielding 5.7% in equities, and Hungary 7% 2022 in the emerging market debt category.