Catholic Super seeds US Micro Cap product
Catholic Superannuation Fund has provided the seed investment for the launch of a new US Micro Cap fund product.
The fund developed by Thomson Horstmann & Bryant, Inc. (THB) and specialist investment adviser, Brookvine, invests in US micro cap equities and was seeded by the Catholic Superannuation Fund (CSF) with an investment of $90 million.
It is the first investment in a new Australian managed investment scheme set up by THB and Brookvine. THB, is a specialist US micro and small-cap investment management firm managing approximately $1.5 billion.
Commenting on the move, CSF chief investment officer, Garrie Lettes said that few institutional investors have a dedicated investment in US micro cap stocks.
“Yet with micro caps being around half of all publicly traded US companies, incorporating them in a broad equities program expands an investor’s opportunity set and, with the benefit of time, should add to long term returns” he said.
Brookvine chief executive, Steven Hall, said that Brookvine had been working with THB in Australia and New Zealand since early 2014, having completed its own due diligence on THB in late 2013.
He said Brookvine was impressed by the size and experience of THB’s investment team and its specialisation in the hard-to-reach, smallest segment of the US sharemarket.
The THB US Micro Cap Fund is open to institutional and wholesale investors. The portfolio is well diversified, holding around 115 - 120 stocks. It typically considers stocks with a market capitalisation up to US$500 - 600 million, however there is a focus on the smallest part of the micro cap universe where inefficiencies are often the greatest. The THB US Micro Cap Fund is distributed by Brookvine in Australia and New Zealand.
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