F&C Multi Manager Team purchase US ‘active’ fund

F&C's Multi Manager Team have introduced an ‘active' US exposure to their overseas equity allocation across the F&C Lifestyle and F&C Multi Manager portfolios.

The Team have added a 3% allocation to the Robeco US Premium Equities Fund in all four Lifestyle portfolios - Cautious, Defensive, Balanced and Growth - trimming their S&P500 ETF positions to fund the purchase.

In line with the Team's statement last month that SICAV vehicles domiciled outside of the UK should offer exciting opportunities in 2010, the fund is a Luxembourg domiciled SICAV actively managed by Boston Partners in America and sub-advised to Robeco (the parent company in the Netherlands).

Fund manager Paul Carne commented: "We've often cited the difficulties US active managers face in delivering consistent performance as the rationale for targeting passive US equity instruments but we believe that this offering could deliver better than index returns at the hands of its Boston based management team.

Additionally, it sits well with our more upbeat assessment on the outlook for the US and its equity markets - a view which means we are happy to introduce the smaller and medium sized company exposure this fund provides."

The Team mirrored the same trade in the F&C Multi Manager Cautious, F&C Multi Manager Balanced and F&C Multi Manager Growth portfolios with positions of 2%, 4% and 4.5% respectively.