Taurus Funds Management is set to launch a gold and precious metals fund with a view to getting more retail investment money.
Director Mohendra Moodley said the Taurus Enhanced Gold and Precious Metals Fund is targeted at Australian institutional and retail investors.
"We don't manage much retail money yet. We actually want to grow that side of the business," Moodley said.
An institutional investment house has put $230 million in seed money into the fund, which is the Australian-domiciled version of a Cayman Islands vehicle launched about a year ago
ASX-listed Equity Trustees is the fund's responsible entity (RE).
"We wouldn't have acted as RE for the fund if the risk rating didn't match back to our target consumer," Equity Trustees' head of corporate fiduciary and financial services Harvey Kalman said.
Moodley and Kalman declined to disclose the source of the seed money.
Moodley said the fund aims to provide Australian investors with an alternative through which to gain meaningful exposure to physical gold and other precious metals.
"The majority of gold funds locally invest predominantly in gold companies, equities, the miners. What we've said is, you actually need to have a portion of your fund in gold bullion, the physical side," said Moodley, who manages the fund with Brenton Saunders.
The fund's mandate is biased towards physical gold, platinum, palladium and silver metals. It also invests in associated equities in Canada, the United States, South Africa and Australia.
"We invest in physical gold via various bullion banks and also physically backed ETFs," he said, adding the fund's bullion is held in London, Zurich and Singapore.
"It actually sits in a vault and we have a call on that gold."
Moodley said the fund is open-ended. The minimum investment is $10,000.
Taurus specialises in global commodity and natural resources funds. It manages about $1 billion for clients in the US and Australia, mainly institutions and family offices.
