Van Eyk unveils listed investment company
Australian retail investors will have access to investment portfolios created byvan Eyk Researchthrough a new listed investment company - Granite Three Pillars - when subscriptions open this Friday prior to a scheduled listing in January next year.
Granite, created following van Eyk forming an alliance with White Funds Management, will be open for retail subscriptions until January 9.
Van Eyk will provide the company with its Blue Chip, Growth, and Special Situations portfolios, while White Funds Management will run the executive function and administration.
The Granite offer will be closed-end to avoid influences of withdrawals in a declining market, or heavy inflows during a rising market says van Eyk head portfolio manager Tom Cottam.
Investments will be diversified across three share portfolios selected through the research house’s classification and valuation methodologies applied to the ASX 300.
Van Eyk director Mark Thomas says while listed investment companies have become more popular in recent years, there is still substantial growth left in the market segment.
“In the Australian market they [listed investment companies] represent 1.3 per cent of the market cap. This compares to over 10 per cent in the UK,” Thomas says.
According to Cottam, listed investment companies are a useful vehicle “for bringing institutional investment processes to the retail market”.
Cottam, who was once AMP head of international equities and chief strategist, says the fund won’t fall into the trap of holding large companies “simply because they represent a large portion of market”.
“We don’t want to constrain ourselves as some managers do to a low tracking error.”
The van Eyk benchmark portfolio (34 per cent Blue Chip, 33 per cent Growth, and 33 per cent Special Situations) outperformed the ASX 300 by just over 39 per cent for the 27 months to 30 September 2003.
Seeking to raise more than $50 million, Granite will offer shares at $1, with each share carrying an option to purchase another share at $1, expiring May 19 2005. The minimum investment amount is $2,000.
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