Threadneedle launches US Contrarian Fund
Threadneedle Investments (Threadneedle), a leading international asset manager, has launched the Threadneedle (Lux) US Contrarian Core Equities Fund in its Luxembourg SICAV range.
The fund is managed by Guy W Pope, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Columbia Management, fellow asset management subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial. The fund has been registered with the CSSF in Luxembourg and the AFM in the Netherlands and registration is pending in other jurisdictions.
The Threadneedle (Lux) US Contrarian Core Equities Fund is managed with the same approach as the US$1.6bn Columbia Management Contrarian Core Fund which seeks out of favour income and growth stocks. Guy W Pope, along with his Associate Portfolio Manager, Harvey Liu, use their proprietary screening method to find large cap US stocks which are in the bottom third of their 52-week price range. They then research these stocks, including tapping the resources of Columbia Management's 160-strong equity portfolio, analysis and quantitative research teams. This leads to stocks being identified where it is felt that the price undervalues the company. The portfolio is constructed to seek above average returns whilst balancing risk and rewards.
Guy W Pope commented: "This fund is all about pessimism - we are looking for those companies that have fallen out of favour due to undue pessimism about their future. By taking a bottom-up approach to finding these stocks we can identify those unfavoured companies with the best upside potential in order to generate alpha for clients. In the current market, many stocks are trading within the bottom third of their 52-week price range and so I currently have a very large universe in which to invest and we are uncovering some very good opportunities.
"I'm delighted to be bringing my investment strategy, which I have been running for seven years, to Europe, the UK and Asia through the Threadneedle Luxembourg SICAV. "
Campbell Fleming, Head of Distribution at Threadneedle, commented: "Guy has delivered long-term outperformance via this strategy and we are delighted to be able to offer his investment approach to our clients in Europe, the UK and Asia. This is the latest strategy from Columbia Management to be distributed via our Luxembourg SICAV range and we believe it is highly complementary to our current range of US equity funds."