The Schroder Real Return fund, which trades under the ticker GROW, is based on Schroders’ existing Real Return CPI Plus 5 per cent fund.
GROW is the first exchange-quoted managed fund to be listed on the ASX that is not a hedge fund, according to a statement from the firm
Schroders chief executive Greg Cooper said GROW was launched “in response to investor demand” for diversified strategies with low risk.
“Unlike many hedge funds with similar objectives, the fund aims to achieve its investment objective of CPI + 5 per cent per annum, pre-fees, over rolling three years without a significant use of derivatives and no leverage,” he said.
Schroders head of fixed income and multi-asset Simon Doyle added that the fund was intended to tackle “a number of common issues” faced by self-managed super funds and high-net-worth individuals as the economy moves into a period of lower returns.
“We’ve come out of a period of growth that was very much debt-supported, and we’re now dealing with the consequences of that: high debt levels and pressure to delever, and that is certainly a significant headwind for the Australian economy,” he said.
Mr Doyle commented that a low growth, low returns world does not mean investors will be unable to generate strong returns, but added that “just thinking about growth per se is not going to be enough”.
“Just because the global economy is constrained in a growth sense, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be opportunities to make money,” he said.
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