Navigator has added six funds to its Personal Investment Plan and Personal Retirement Plan platforms, including four funds from Fidelity Investments, two of which were launched just three weeks ago.
The funds added include Fidelity’s Australian Equity Fund and the new China Fund and India Fund, along with Equity Trustees’ Intrinsic Value International Share Fund and Merrill Lynch’s Global Allocation Fund.
Navigator research manager Stuart Fechner said financial advisers had been demanding access to international funds and the new additions sought to address these demands.
He said few funds available provided access to specific countries such as China and India, despite publicity of the growth rates in these countries and related investment opportunities.
“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 focused funds.”
Fechner said the other two international equity funds added — Merrill Lynch Global Allocation Fund and the EQT Intrinsic Value International Share Fund — were different from traditional global equity funds.
“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 per cent equities and 40 per cent 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 country’s equity market as a whole. The fund provides a level of diversification benefit, illustrating a relatively low correlation with traditional international equity funds.”
