A new “all-terrain” global fund from Fidelity International

A new fund from Fidelity International offers investors the opportunity to gain exposure to a broad range of asset classes through a single portfolio.

The Fidelity Multi-Asset Strategic Fund is an all-terrain investment vehicle that aims to provide diversified long-term capital gains with low volatility. It makes for an ideal core holding that can perform relatively well in both bull and bear markets for equities.

Trevor Greetham, Fidelity’s director of asset allocation and the fund’s manager, will tilt the portfolio’s composition towards different asset classes spanning equities, bonds, property, commodities and cash depending on his view of the global economic cycle.

Analysis of historic trends serves as a guide to the optimum asset mix at different stages of the economic cycle. The equity portion of the portfolio will also be weighted towards the sectors and regions that tend to do best during the different phases of economic growth.

Trevor Greetham says: “The fund is a departure from the conventional breed of cautiously managed funds as it combines bonds, cash and equities with property and commodities. In addition, my ability to change the asset allocation according to economic conditions means it has the potential to perform relatively well in both bull and bear markets.”

He continues: “Right now, our model indicates that the world economy is set to decelerate in 2007, which suggests that global bonds will perform better than equities or commodities. Besides an overweighted position in bonds, initially this fund will have exposure to developed market equities in Europe and North America. By sector, the investments will be weighted towards interest-rate sensitive financial and consumer companies rather than industrials or technology.”

A new breed of balanced fund

The Fidelity Multi Asset Strategic Fund is primarily a fund of funds: almost all the underlying holdings are single-strategy Fidelity funds incorporating the stock selection decisions of a broad range of specialist Fidelity fund managers. Commodity index and additional equity sector exposure will be achieved using liquid derivative instruments.

Fees are highly competitive: the fund’s estimated Total Expense Ratio (TER), a measure of all costs including management charges, is 1.63%*. Initial charges are 3.5%. Fidelity is offering a 0.5% discount on any ISA and Pep transfers received before 5 April 2007.

Trevor Greetham

Trevor Greetham joined Fidelity in January 2006 as Asset Allocation Director. He is a member of Fidelity’s Asset Allocation Group and manages Fidelity Funds Growth and Income Fund and the Fidelity Funds Multi Asset Strategic Fund, a separate fund aimed at euro-based investors.

Trevor has more than 16 years’ industry experience. Prior to Fidelity, he spent 10 years at Merrill Lynch, where he was Director of Asset Allocation. Trevor began his career with UK life insurer Provident Mutual. He holds an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University and is a qualified actuary.