26 July 2010Martin Currie to launch Latin America fund*New fund gives UK investors access to Martin Currie's newly appointed emerging-markets team
Martin Currie, the specialist active equity manager, is to launch a fund providing active management of Latin American equities. This fund is subject to regulatory approval and will give UK retail investors access to Martin Currie's newly appointed emerging-markets team.
The Martin Currie Latin America Fund will be managed by
Jeff Casson, who has 10 years' investment experience. From January 2006 until May 2010, Jeff was lead manager of the Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (Swip) Latin American Oeic. That fund is in the first quartile of its peer group over the three and five years to 30 June 2010**.
Jeff will join Martin Currie in September. The Martin Currie Latin America Fund will be open to investors from November 2010. This high-conviction fund will hold between 40 and 60 stocks, and will employ a multi-cap, growth-oriented, bottom-up strategy. Its benchmark will be the MSCI Latin America 5/10/40 index. The minimum investment will be £1,000 for the retail 'A' share class and £1,000,000 for the institutional 'B' share class. The annual management charge will be 1.5% for the 'A' share class and 1% for the 'B' share class. The initial charge will be 5%.
Earlier this year, Martin Currie made a significant investment in its emerging-markets team when it added a six-strong team from Swip. Led by Kim Catechis, this team has over 91 years' collective emerging-markets experience. They have worked together for many years, managing over £2.2 billion for a range of institutional and wealth-management clients. They are highly rated by the market, with strong institutional support from clients around the world. Martin Currie's combined emerging-markets team is now nine-strong, with 128 years' experience
Andy Sowerby, managing director of sales, marketing and client service at Martin Currie, said:'Global growth is increasingly driven by the emerging economies. By 2012, their share of global GDP is forecast to exceed that of the developed world for the first time. This is a historic development: one that creates both challenges and opportunities for investors'.
'We have long predicted this shift and have therefore being focusing our resources on developing the investment strategies of the future. While we are already recognised as a leading house for Asia and China, we have recently been building our expertise in global emerging markets. Having completed a major recruitment exercise, we now have a team of nine specialists with combined investment experience in excess of 100 years - a team focused on uncovering the very best investment opportunities in the world's emerging economies.
'The Martin Currie Latin America fund is our first new product to be managed by this group. It will launch on 1 November and will be led by the highly rated Jeff Casson, a proven specialist in this field.'
*Subject to regulatory approval
**Source: Lipper Hindsight, as at 30 June 2010. Bid to bid basis with net income reinvested over periods shown. These figures do not include initial charges. If these were included, performance figures would be reduced. Performance of 'A' shares (retail class) in sterling. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.Additional information
Jeff Casson2005-2010, Investment Director, Global Emerging Markets, Swip. As a portfolio manager, Jeff was lead manager of Swip's Latin American strategy
2003-2005, Investment Manager, The Alliance Trust Plc
1999-2003, Investment Analyst, The Alliance Trust Plc
For further information please contact:Amy Fisher Director of Corporate Communications
Martin Currie
Tel: 0131 479 4780 / 07825 971421
AFisher@martincurrie.com
