Objective
The fund aims to provide a combination of capital growth and income, net of the ongoing charge figure, that is higher than that of a composite index comprising two thirds of global company shares and one third of global bonds, over any five-year period.
The composite index is 2/3 MSCI ACWI Index and 1/3 Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate GBP Hedged Index.
Investment policy and strategy
Core investment: The fund typically invests in a mix of assets, including company shares, bonds, convertibles and currencies. The fund may invest in these assets directly, via derivatives or through other funds. At least 25% of the fund is held in sterling and at least 50% of the fund is held in US dollar, sterling, yen and euro combined.
Other investments: The fund may invest in other assets (such as property) via derivatives or through other funds.
Derivatives: The fund may use derivatives to reduce the risks and costs of managing the fund.
Strategy in brief: The fund has a very flexible investment approach, with the freedom to invest in different types of assets in response to changes in economic conditions and the valuation of assets. The fund typically invests 40-85% of its assets in company shares and convertibles, 15-50% in bonds or cash, and up to 10% in other assets.
These allocations reflect the net exposure of the portfolio. The approach combines in-depth research to work out the "fair" value of assets over the medium to long term, with analysis of market reactions to events to identify investment opportunities. In particular, the fund manager seeks to respond when asset prices move away from a reasonable sense of "fair" long-term value due to the market’s reaction to events.
Benchmark:
2/3 MSCI ACWI Index
1/3 Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate GBP Hedged Index
The benchmark is a target which the fund seeks to outperform. The composite index has been chosen as the fund’s benchmark as it best reflects the scope of the fund’s investment policy. The benchmark is used solely to measure the fund’s performance and does not constrain the fund's portfolio construction.
The fund is actively managed. The fund manager has complete freedom in choosing which investments to buy, hold and sell in the fund. The fund’s holdings may deviate significantly from the benchmark’s constituents.
For unhedged and hedged share classes, the benchmark is shown in the share class currency.
You can find more information about the objective and investment policy of the fund in the Prospectus.
Risks associated with the fund
The value of investments and the income from them will rise and fall. This will cause the fund price, as well as any income paid by the fund, to fall as well as rise. There is no guarantee the fund will achieve its objective, and you may not get back the amount you originally invested.
The fund may use derivatives with the aim of profiting from a rise or a fall in the value of an asset (for example, a company’s bonds). However, if the asset’s value varies in a different manner, the fund may incur a loss.
The fund invests in other funds, and there is a risk that the value of the assets held by those funds is not always reflected in the funds’ reported values. The fund manager will not have control over the management of those funds or the pricing of the assets they hold.
Changes in currency exchange rates will affect the value of your investment.
The fund will invest in emerging markets which are generally smaller, more sensitive to economic and political factors, and where investments are less easily bought and sold. In exceptional circumstances, the fund may encounter difficulties when selling or collecting income from these investments, which could cause the fund to incur a loss. In extreme circumstances, it could lead to the temporary suspension of dealing in shares in the fund.
Where market conditions make it hard to sell the fund’s investments at a fair price to meet customers’ sale requests, we may temporarily suspend dealing in the fund’s shares.
Some transactions the fund makes, such as placing cash on deposit, require the use of other financial institutions (for example, banks). If one of these institutions defaults on their obligations or becomes insolvent, the fund may incur a loss.
Other information
The Fund allows for the extensive use of derivatives
The performance webpage for this fund is currently being reconfigured. In the interim, for performance information, please refer to the latest Fund Factsheet which can be found in the Literature section.