EquityTrustees Funds Management (EQTFM) has increased its existing range of funds with the development of three multi-sector funds; income, balanced and growth.
EQTFM general manager and chief investment officer Harvey Kalman says the new range are ‘blended funds’ and will be managed by EQTFM’s underlying investment managers; Vanguard, Adelaide Bank, Grange Securities, SG Hiscock and Bell Asset Management.
Kalman says money is already being invested in the blended funds and an offer document is expected in about a week.
The rollout of the new funds comes on the back of the group’s top quartile performance for 2002 based on its conservative approach.
Kalman says the operation is a “virtual fund manager” and success has come from building relationships with its managers with its star performer being its small companies fund, managed by SG Hiscock, which has returned 42.46 per cent one-year net return. The fund has $12 million of funds under management.
EQTFM has also scored some success with its high-income fund which has a net one year return of 7.34 per cent and uses boutique manger Grange Securities.
The fund manager has also achieved positive returns on most of its funds with the exception of the international and Australian equities ethical fund.
The fund manager now has $640 million funds under management, having started as a separate division in the 114-year-old company in 2000.
