Matthew Newham
Standard Life Investments, the global asset manager, is pleased to announce that its highly successful Global Absolute Returns Strategies Australian Trust (ARN 125 891 261) is now available via BT Wrap platform.
Established in 2006 in the UK, GARS is an award-winning multi-asset strategy which aims to provide positive returns irrespective of market conditions with reduced volatility compared to equities.
GARS Australian Trust (ARSN 125 897 261) has been offered to Australian institutional investors since 2009 and has delivered consistently strong returns. In October 2013, GARS Australian Trust received a ‘Recommended’ by Lonsec.
Matthew Newham, Investment Director Wholesale Business, Standard Life Investments, said:“We are excited to announce that BT Wrap has added GARS Australian Trust to its investment offering. BT Wrap is an award-winning retail investor platform and we are thrilled that GARS has been recognised as a leading absolute return investment choice for Australian retail investors.
“Today, retail investors are focused on managing risk and achieving consistent returns. Diversified absolute return strategies, such as GARS, are helping Australian investors to achieve equity-like returns but with much lower volatility.
“GARS consists typically of between 25 to 35 strategies that span global markets, with each one selected for its return potential on a three-year horizon. Each of the strategies within GARS complements each other, ensuring the portfolio works as a whole, even when unexpected things happen in the markets. We aim to deliver a positive return each year, irrespective of market conditions, and this requires a very well diversified investment portfolio,” Mr Newham said.
GARS Australian Trust delivered an overall net return of 10.2% per annum, over the four years from inception in 2009 to 31 March 2014. This performance is ahead of its objective of cash + 5% per year (9.2%) gross of fees, over rolling 3-year periods. The volatility of the fund over the four-year period has been just 4.4%, compared to global equity volatility of 9.6% and 12.6% for Australian equities.
“We have received great feedback on GARS from the industry and look forward to continuing to educate advisors and retail investors about the benefits that GARS can bring to their portfolio,” said Mr Newham.