VFM launches Vilhena Diversified Multi-Manager Income Fund

Valletta Fund Management has launched the Vilhena Diversified Multi-Manager Income Fund that aims to distribute income half-yearly while offering the potential for capital growth.

The fund aims to deliver positive total returns in both rising and falling markets. The Vilhena Diversified Multi-Manager Income Fund will seek to achieve its investment objective by gaining exposure to any one or more assets, such as equities, bonds, cash, near cash and deposits, commodities, real estate property and absolute return funds.

This new product benefits from the multi-manager approach through which investors gain access to a careful selection of investment funds managed by several experts in the field, each applying different strategies and techniques, further complimenting the fund's strength through diversity. The fund will be managed by Insight Investment's multi- manager team, led by Patrick Armstrong, director of fund and manager selection, and Ana Cukic-Munro, director of portfolio strategy and construction.

Vilhena Funds SICAV plc qualifies as a UCITS scheme pursuant to the UCITS directive. This implies that, apart from being able to invest in certain types of financial instruments, the Vilhena Funds may also employ modern investment techniques and instruments like financial derivative instruments with the aim of providing greater investment flexibility for the fund manager and therefore, potentially enhancing performance benefits for investors.

At a breakfast meeting, Peter Perotti, general manager of Valletta Fund Management, said: "The continued volatility experienced in global markets has justified the need for solutions that provide a cushioning effect for investment against such market volatility. Absolute returns funds have been one of the fastest growing investment products in recent years and promises to be the way forward in today's market place. In a fund in which performance is measured relative to a traditional benchmark, positive returns are likely to be achieved during a bull market, but performance is less attractive when a bear market inevitably arrives through a market cycle.

"The Vilhena Diversified Multi-Manager Income Fund adopts a different strategy. It uses a cash benchmark which, coupled with the increased investment flexibility of a UCITS structure, aims to attain positive returns, with less dependence on a rising market to achieve those returns. The fund requires an investment horizon extended over a full market cycle to ensure a greater likelihood of meeting its target returns."

The fund is available in Maltese lira and will be converted to euro on January 1. During the initial offer period until October 31, the initial fee will be discounted to two per cent.