Navigator today announced the addition of six new funds to the range of investment options available through its Personal Investment Plan and Personal Retirement Plan services.
Navigator today announced the addition of six new funds to the range of investment options available through its Personal Investment Plan and Personal Retirement Plan services. The funds are:
- Fidelity Australian Equity Fund
- Fidelity Global Equities Fund
- Fidelity China Fund
- Fidelity India Fund (exclusive to Navigator until 31 January 2006)[1]
- EQT Intrinsic Value International Share Fund
- Merrill Lynch Global Allocation Fund
The funds are available for investment from 1 November 2005.
Navigator research manager, Stuart Fechner said there is definitely a strong international flavour to the funds being added in response to financial adviser demand.
“It is important we provide differentiation in fund choice and type across all asset classes and the addition of these funds greatly assists advisers when developing an appropriate investment strategy,” said Stuart.
The process of adding new funds to Navigator incorporates a manager and fund due diligence questionnaire being completed by Navigator Research, plus feedback from financial advisers.
“Much of the past year or two has seen product differentiation emerge within the Australian equities asset class. For example, we’ve seen a strong increase in the number of concentrated equity funds, boutique funds and geared funds. It’s now arguably time for some ‘catch up’ within international equities. We’ve had a really good level of interest from advisers,” added Stuart.
Four of the six fund additions are Fidelity investment funds. Three of these being international equity funds offering choice of either a broadly global fund or specific investment into China or India.
“It’s exciting to provide some specific country investment choice. There are very few fund opportunities available to investors providing access to allow a strategic investment into countries such as China an India. There has been a lot of publicity in relation to the growth of these countries and the related investment opportunities,” said Stuart.
“India is a comparatively young and developing country, with 51% of the population under 25 years of age[2]. This, combined with a trend of urbanisation and increasing incomes, represents a rising middle class providing growth in key industries offering investment opportunities. This is driving a growing consumer market with sectors such as infrastructure, retail and healthcare benefiting from a changing demographic,” said Stuart.
“Fidelity is a well resourced global investment manager with people on the ground to provide the investment coverage needed in countries like India and China. While being a global manager, it also understands the Australian financial industry and related distribution structure. That’s a good combination when offering such focussed funds,” comments Stuart.
The other two international equity funds added, Merrill Lynch Global Allocation Fund and the EQT Intrinsic Value International Share Fund, provide the opportunity of investment into funds which are not your standard or traditional global equity funds.
“With the international equity market not being kind to investors over the past few years (the MSCI World ex-Australia Accumulation Index unhedged returning – 6.7% for the five years ending 30 September 2005), many financial advisers have recently been looking for more than the traditional global equity fund that closely replicates this benchmark index,” said Stuart.
“The Merrill Lynch Global Allocation Fund makes active investment decision at a stock, sector and regional level. The benchmark asset allocation of the fund is 60% equities and 40% fixed interest/cash. Overall this provides a good level of flexibility on many fronts,” he said.
“The EQT Intrinsic Value International Share fund does not invest into individual stocks, but rather assesses the investment opportunities at a country level across 22 developed countries. Investment is then made through gaining exposure to the related countries equity market as a whole. The fund provides a level of diversification benefit, illustrating a relatively low correlation with traditional international equity funds,” said Stuart.
Navigator now offers a choice of over 190 managed funds together with a wide range of direct shares from the ASX 500 through the Navigator Personal Investment Plan, or the ASX 200 through the Navigator Personal Retirement Plan.
-ends-
Stuart Fechner is available for interview on 0407 839 080.
For further information, please contact:
Simon Morgan, Group General Manager, Public Affairs
Ph: (03) 9829 8892 Mob: 0407 966 632
Notes to editors:
- Aviva Australia is a group of two specialist financial services companies: Navigator and Norwich Union Life Australia Ltd. Portfolio Partners is the Australian funds management arm of Aviva plc. Through these companies we provide products and services in the areas of wealth creation and wealth protection for more than 300,000 customers throughout Australia.
- Globally, Aviva Australia is part of Aviva plc, the world's sixth largest insurance group, the largest insurer in the UK and one of the top five life companies in Europe. Aviva was formed in May 2000 through the global merger of CGU plc and Norwich Union plc.
- Aviva is a leading provider of life and pensions products to Europe and has substantial businesses elsewhere around the world. Its main activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance. It has premium income and investment sales from continuing operations of A$78.6 billion, and more than A$645 billion of assets under management (as at 7July 2005). The group has more than 60,000 employees and 30 million customers worldwide.
- The information in this document reflects Navigator Australia Limited's ('Navigator') ABN 45 006 302 987 understanding of existing legislation, proposed legislation, rulings etc as at the date of issue. In some cases the information has been provided to us by third parties. While it is believed the information is accurate and reliable, this is not guaranteed in any way. The information given in this document is of a general nature and has not taken into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person and it is not a substitute for professional advice. A PDS is available from NULIS or your financial adviser. Applications to invest in investment product(s) through the investor directed portfolio service ("IDPS"), operated by Navigator, must be made by completing the application form attached to the applicable IDPS Guide Offer Document and Investment Allocation Authority. Before making an investment decision on the basis of the information above, a prospective investor needs to consider, with or without the assistance of a professional adviser whether the information is appropriate in the light of their particular investment needs, objectives and financial circumstances. Aviva does not receive any remuneration in relation to the provision of information available from this press release which is of a general nature only.