T Rowe Price launches growth fund

To be managed by Scott Berg

By Wouter Klijn
Mon 22 Mar 2010

T Rowe Price launches new global growth fund in Australia.

US-based fund manager T Rowe Price has launched a new global equities growth fund in Australia.

The fund, which is called the Global Equity Core Growth Strategy, will invest in large-cap companies.

Although the fund has a bias towards growth stocks, a strategy for which T Rowe Price is well known, it will look at wider opportunities in the market.

"Sometimes we play by the bit that is growing, and sometimes we play by the bit that is undervalued," T Rowe Price Global Equity Core Growth Strategy portfolio manager Scott Berg said.

The fund offers Australian investors an opportunity to diversify, Berg said.

"When investing in Australian equities you are missing opportunities in technology and healthcare," Berg said.

The fund's benchmark is the MSCI All Country World Large Cap Index ex-Australia, and the fund is available in a hedged and unhedged version.

T Rowe Price launched a similar strategy in the US and Europe in October 2008 and currently has about $800 million in funds under management, Berg said.

The composite return of this strategy was 12.1 per cent over the 12 months to 31 January 2010, and it has returned 6.3 per cent since its inception in 2008.

The Australian fund will initially target institutional investors and has a minimum investment threshold of $500,000, but T Rowe Price has started the process of making the fund available to retail investors and is in discussions with research houses about ratings.

Last month, T Rowe Price hired James Bloom as head of client services and asset consultant relations to help expand the fund manager's business in Australia.

Bloom came from Challenger Funds Management, where he was head of institutional business.

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