Allianz Global Investors announces launch of Allianz RCM Discovery Europe Strategy fund
- A long / short equity strategy focused on the European stock market
- The fund focuses on a market neutral approach
Allianz Global Investors has today announced that, pending regulatory approvals*, it is planning to launch the Allianz RCM Discovery Europe Strategy fund. The fund will have exposure to pan-European stocks and aims to generate superior risk adjusted returns. Domiciled in Luxembourg and UCITS III compliant*, the fund is expected to be launched by Allianz Global Investors in October 2009.
The Allianz RCM Discovery Europe Strategy fund will be based on an existing Cayman Islands-domiciled investment vehicle which was launched in June 2007. The portfolio will be run by lead manager Harald Sporleder and comanager Ralf Walter, and the new fund will play to RCM’s** strengths of fundamental research and stock picking. The strategy seeks to deliver superior risk adjusted market neutral returns in the long term. Generally, two thirds of the portfolio will consist of high conviction stocks and the strategy is then complemented by positions with a shorter term investment horizon. Designed for both institutional investors and discretionary managers, the existing strategy has around EUR 30 million under management2.
Michel Haski, CEO of Allianz Global Investors Europe comments: “We are seeing high levels of demand from clients for products with more visible returns but lower volatility. The existing Allianz RCM Discovery Europe Fund has had impressive performance since inception so we are delighted to launch a new UCITS III fund which will allow more investors access to this successful strategy. We believe that funds which provide market neutral investment concepts in today’s unpredictable market environment will see continued and growing demand.”
Manager of the existing Allianz RCM Discovery Europe Fund, Harald Sporleder says: “We believe that this strategy is perfectly aligned to today’s volatile market conditions in seeking to deliver superior risk-adjusted, absolute returns through all market cycles. Our approach is driven by RCM’s expertise in stock selection based on fundamental bottom-up company analysis. I’m pleased the team has established such a strong track record despite the testing times we are in.”
* The launch of the fund is subject to approval by Luxembourg’s regulator for the banking and financial services
industry.
** RCM is the active equity investment manager of Allianz Global Investors
2 – Source: Allianz Global Investors as at 30.5.2009 (latest available).
Performance of the existing Allianz RCM Discovery Europe Fund1
1 - Source: Allianz Global Investors/ Wiltshire Atlas, net of fees to 30.06.2009. Performance shown is for the existing
Allianz RCM Discovery Europe Fund, which is a Cayman Islands-domiciled fund. A share class, in Euros. Inception
date was 5.6.2007.
