Investors Mutual has announced the launch of its first listed investment company (LIC), QV Equities (QVE), aimed at providing a diversified portfolio of quality companies particularly for the SMSF sector.
Managed by Investors Mutual, QVE will focus on providing investors with diversification with Australian companies outside the Australian Stock Exchange top 20.
Investors Mutual investment director Anton Tagliaferro said the offering gave investors a prudent vehicle with which to diversify their portfolio. “The ex-20 offers more diverse entities in terms of industry sectors, providing a far greater breadth of opportunity,” Tagliaferro said.
In addition, the new LIC would provide investors with a ready-made portfolio of high-quality stocks, with established businesses with solid growth and dividend prospects, he said.
The LIC would identify and invest in stocks that Investors Mutual assessed as good value and had the quality attributes of a strong competitive advantage with recurring earnings, capable management and could grow earnings and dividends over time, he said.
QVE would aim to solve the difficulties advisers and investors often faced when assessing which stocks to invest in from the ex-20 segment, he said.
It would leverage Investors Mutual’s extensive experience and expertise in selecting companies using its in-depth stock selection research, he said.
“We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from research houses, advisers, accountants and individual investors on the approach and strategy behind QVE,” he said.
“The offer complements the increased move we’re seeing in the market to direct equities.
“It also provides a unique solution for advisers and investors as QVE will give diversity to portfolios with a high exposure to the top 20 stocks in Australia.”
He said QVE would be a useful vehicle for many investors and advisers currently using exchange-traded funds and index-tracking funds.
QVE’s board was committed to ensuring it would deliver on its expectations and with Investors Mutual’s research capabilities and stock selection expertise, Tagliaferro said.
“Importantly, QVE’s fee structure is also aligned to shareholders whereby the fee scales downwards as QVE grows and unlike most other recent LIC offerings, QVE will not charge any performance fees to its investors,” he said.
QVE’s offer period will be open from 14 July to 8 August, with a raising target of between $100 million and $200 million