River & Mercantile is launching a Global Opportunities Fund on 8th October 2009. This will be the firm’s first global offering and will sit alongside their existing UK fund range.
The fund will be managed by Alex Stanic who was previously at Newton where he applied a thematic approach, and he plans to adopt a similar strategy with this new fund. He aims to identify long term growth opportunities from trends that are likely to influence companies on a global basis.
One of the themes in the portfolio will look at the higher risk emerging markets and their impact on global growth. Another looks at the energy sector and how global demand is driving up prices. As the emerging markets prosper, their demand for energy is also growing so these areas are directly correlated.
Other themes relate to the government stimulus plans and the reduction of debt by companies and governments. Importantly, themes will evolve and change over time and new ones will develop.
Once the key themes are identified, Alex Stanic will look to pick what he believes to be the best companies from those areas. He will look for companies with strong balance sheets, low debt, good management and trading on what he feels are attractive valuations. There are also no constraints in terms of geography and sectors giving him significant flexibility.
The fund will predominantly focus on larger companies. However, it will be fairly focused with around 40 to 60 companies and this concentration will increase risk.
While he was at Newton, we held Alex Stanic in high regard. We would like to monitor his progress at River & Mercantile, where he has the support of a much smaller team. For this reason we have not added the fund to the Wealth 150, our list of our favourite funds in each sector.
Meera Patel, Senior Analyst
>> Key Features of the River & Mercantile Global Opportunities Fund
>> Simplified Prospectus of the River & Mercantile Global Opportunities Fund
