Jupiter extends SICAV range with New Europe Fund

Jupiter Asset Management is planning to launch a fund investing in emerging Europe as part of the Jupiter Global Fund SICAV.

The Jupiter New Europe Fund, which will be aimed at professional investors, will have a somewhat different mandate to the existing Jupiter Emerging Europe Select Fund (SICAV). While the fund will focus on achieving long term capital growth by investing primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey and non-European former member states of the USSR, it will also have the flexibility to invest up to a third of its assets in Western European companies which the managers believe significantly benefit from exposure to emerging European markets.

The Fund will harness the combined talents of Jupiter's emerging European equities team, Elena Shaftan, Ingrid Kukuljan and Colin Croft, which manages the highly successful Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities unit trust. In the period since its launch, this unit trust has returned 432.3% against 240.7% for the Morningstar Global Emerging Markets sector average, placing the Fund 1st out of 21 funds in the sector. The Jupiter Emerging Europe Select Fund (SICAV) has returned 36.1% since its launch in November 2006, compared with 28.2% for the average fund in the Offshore Equity Europe Emerging Markets Morningstar sector.

Elena Shaftan , lead manager, said: "Eastern Europe and Russia have seen their economies grow rapidly in recent years. Many companies from the region have profited from expanding domestic consumption and infrastructure spending, while EU convergence has brought particular benefits to eastern European businesses. Increasingly, we are seeing advantages for some western European businesses too.

"A growing number of companies listed in western Europe have significant eastern European operations that contribute to their revenue growth and lower costs. Having the ability to invest in these companies will broaden our universe and in some cases will allow us to find better value for a similar growth profile."

Kevin Scott, Executive Director International at Jupiter Asset Management, said: "Demand for high alpha funds investing in emerging Europe and Russia is growing internationally. Last year, we reached the £100m target capacity on the Jupiter Emerging Europe Select Fund within just three weeks and we would expect interest in this fund to be very high, particularly now we have registered the Jupiter Global Fund SICAV in seven of our target jurisdictions."