Small caps fund re-opens after four years
By Liam Egan
Fund managers are continuing to feed investor demand for small company funds, with Goldman Sachs JBWere reopening its emerging leaders vehicles to new investments after having closed the funds off in 2001 when assets under management topped $900 million.
Chief investment officer Andrew Cooke attributed the funds’ reopening to a 40 per cent increase in sector capacity since the retail and wholesale versions of the fund were closed.
Reopening the funds, which have assets under management of $670 million, was a “capacity call rather than an asset allocation call”, Cooke said, prompted by clients “asking us for capacity” in the funds.
Cooke said increased sector capacity would give the funds the “potential to grow in a measured way without adversely affecting our existing unit holders”.
The reopening of the funds is designed to target new investors who “want an allocation to small and mid-caps over a medium-term investment”, according to Cooke.
“People should bear in mind that the small to mid-cap sector has had very strong performance over the past 12 months, and valuations, while not at alarming levels, are not at attractive levels,” he said.
The reopening of the funds follows similar moves by INGand Equity Trustees with their small cap funds late last year.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
