There is a growing interest in Australian fund managers with a global equity capability.
The Melbourne-based specialist global equities fund manager Cooper Investors’ expansion into the retail market has gained further impetus with its two long-only global funds now available on two more platforms.
The addition of the Netwealth and the FirstWrap platforms takes to eight the number of platforms now offering Cooper’s two global funds – the Cooper Investors Global Equities Fund (hedged) and the Cooper Investors Global Equities Fund (unhedged).
Cooper Investors, which has $13 billion in assets under management, is also available to planners on the Macquarie Investment and Super platforms, as well as BT Wrap, BT Panorama, Asgard, HUB24 and Powerwrap.
Cooper’s latest performance report shows that the hedged fund produced a net return of 12.25 percent for the five years to 30 June 2018 compared with a 10.62 per cent return for the benchmark index, the MSCI World Index. The unhedged fund had a 14.13 per cent return over the same period, ahead of the index at 13.95 per cent.
The funds, which have been rated by Zenith Investment Partners and Lonsec, have attracted strong interest in the institutional market since their inception in 2004 (hedged) and 2008 (unhedged), prompting Cooper’s decision to take them to the retail market.
Andrew Hall, Cooper’s senior retail sales manager, says there is a growing interest in Australian fund managers with a global equity capability. Both financial advisers and their clients understand the need for diversification, and the fact there are local fund managers with proven track records to offer this investment option.
“These two funds, with their history of outperformance, offer the retail market the opportunity to get exposure to long-only funds that are underpinned by Cooper Investors’ VoF research philosophy, standing for value latency; operating, industry and strategic trends; and focused industry and management behaviour.”