ClearBridge Investments has unveiled its inaugural global equity strategy designed specifically for Australian investors, introducing the ClearBridge Global Growth Fund.
According to the firm, the fund, boasting a nearly 12-year track record, employs a disciplined, risk-aware strategy focused on achieving growth-like returns exceeding market averages while managing volatility at market levels.
The portfolio, consisting of 60 to 100 equities, targets companies where the market has misjudged the scale or duration of growth, encompassing emerging, secular and structural growth opportunities. This approach aims to provide consistent returns for investors in diverse market conditions, ClearBridge said in its announcement on Monday.
Matt Bushby, ClearBridge head of APAC business development, said the launch marks the next stage of its growth strategy for Australian investors.
“Our business is transforming. Today, in addition to our award-winning listed infrastructure strategies, we are expanding our investment capabilities to offer Australian investors access to this very successful Global Growth Strategy,” Bushby said.
“The ClearBridge Global Growth Fund is the first global equity fund ClearBridge has launched in Australia, and we are looking at potential opportunities to launch other global equity strategies in the future.”
Expounding on this, Bushby said increased volatility in recent years has driven financial advisers and investors to rethink their growth-equity allocations.
“Increasingly investors are seeking consistency that can anchor their growth allocations through different market environments to compound over the longer term,” he concluded.
The strategy’s team of portfolio managers includes ClearBridge’s head of global growth, Elisa Mazen, who brings nearly 40 years of experience in the funds management industry.
Commenting on the fund’s strategy, Mazen attributed its success to various factors, including ClearBridge’s proprietary research team of analysts and fundamental industry and company research.
“We focus on investment thesis, valuation, risk assessment, as well as ESG factors, to select high-quality businesses, with sustainable growth characteristics but which are trading at a discount. We then diversify the portfolio along a spectrum of growth which allows us to perform in a variety of market regimes,” she said.
As at 31 March 2024, the ClearBridge Global Growth Strategy has produced an average annual gross return of 17.5 per cent since its inception, outperforming its benchmark, the MSCI AC World (Net) Index by 3 per cent.
