Perpetual today launched its Wholesale Global Share Fund Hedged, further opening up the international asset class to investors, while minimising the impact of any adverse currency movements.
Perpetual global equities portfolio manager Garry Laurence said when making global investment decisions, it was important to consider movements in currency, particularly as an appreciating Australian dollar could have a positive or negative material impact on equity investment returns.
“The fully hedged fund allows SMSFs to invest in global equities while taking away the currency risk and currency fluctuations from the performance of the fund,” Laurence told selfmanagedsuper.
“No doubt more SMSFs are looking to diversify their equities exposure outside of Australia as it is a very narrow market in terms of companies and industries, so global funds are attracting more and more inflows.
“The more Australian-based global managers there are, the more the Australian market becomes educated on the benefits of investing offshore and so it just takes time for people to be comfortable to do it.”
Commenting on whether investor allocations to global strategies would be stronger compared to last year, he said it was hard to tell.
“The equities markets have had a very difficult start to the year and that always creates panic among some retail investors, but it also creates a lot more investment opportunities,” he said.
“But if we see a recovery in the markets, then we’ll continue to see investors look at global funds and I think the Australian market is realising that an over-allocation to commodities and resources is a risky way to invest.”
The fund is offering a one-year return of 11 per cent, net of fees.
The minimum initial investment is $25,000, with a suggested investment period of seven years.
In keeping with Perpetual’s 45-year track record in value investing, the fund will adopt a bottom-up approach to stock selection where the decision to buy or sell is based on fundamental quality and valuation.
The diversified portfolio of 20 to 40 hand-picked, high-quality companies is constructed within a framework that is independent of the benchmark in terms of stock and sector weights.
