Jupiter launches Sterling class for Merlin Fund of Funds Sicav

Jupiter Asset Management, one of the UK's leading fund management groups, has activated the Sterling class for the Jupiter Merlin International Equities Portfolio, making it more accessible to UK investors, although it is not yet registered for retail distribution in the UK.

The Jupiter Merlin International Equities Portfolio is a sub-fund of the newly-launched Jupiter Merlin Funds Sicav, which has been approved by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in Luxembourg. It is managed as an unfettered fund of funds.

The Fund is managed by Jupiter's highly-regarded fund of funds team - John Chatfeild-Roberts, Peter Lawery and Algy Smith-Maxwell. In relation to their unit trusts, the team, who manage some £2.6bn (EURO;3.4bn) of long only and long/short assets, are the only multi-managers to have an AAA rating from OBSR. They also have an AAA rating from Standard & Poor's for the Jupiter Merlin Income, Jupiter Merlin Balanced and Jupiter Merlin Growth Portfolios and an AA rating for the Jupiter Merlin Worldwide Portfolio. In addition, the team have won numerous awards for their skills, including the Professional Adviser Best Multi-Manager Group for 2007.

The Fund will be based around the same principle as the Jupiter Merlin Worldwide Portfolio, one of the unit trusts that the team has been managing for more than 10 years. The objective of the Jupiter Merlin International Equities Portfolio is to achieve long-term capital growth. The managers will seek to achieve these objectives by investing predominantly in Sicavs, unit trusts, Oeics, exchange traded funds and other collective investment schemes across several management groups. The underlying funds invest predominantly in international equities.

The Fund will also have the ability to hedge against directional risk using index future and/or cash, to hold bonds and warrants, to use options and futures for hedging purposes and for efficient portfolio management, to enter into contracts for differences, to use forward currency contracts, to effect repurchase transactions and, to hold ancillary liquid assets.

Kevin Scott, Executive Director, International at Jupiter, said: "The Fund has been up and running for a just over a month and so we are delighted to already be introducing a sterling class to meet demand from clients in the UK.

"With demand for these products increasing globally, this is a great opportunity for us to make these funds available to our growing domestic and international client base."