Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) has launched a core global tactical asset allocation fund that invests in stocks, bonds and volatility as an asset class.
The Seeyond Multi-Asset Allocation Fund offers the potential benefit of greater diversification by integrating equity volatility as an asset class along with traditional asset classes.
In the fund, equity volatility can be used to manage risk or to seek returns in different types of environments. This ability can be especially valuable to investors during market downturns.
“The Seeyond Multi-Asset Allocation Fund can provide investors with a range of benefits. The fund can be used as a standalone core allocation that seeks to outperform a benchmark of global equities and bonds,” says David Giunta, president and chief executive officer, Natixis Global Asset Management – US distribution. “It can also be used to provide additional diversification in volatile markets.”
The fund’s management team specialises in active volatility investing in Europe. The fund is based on a strategy that seeks to generate value through asset allocation, rather than individual security selection. Following this strategy, the management team invests in volatility as an asset class, just like stocks or bonds. Volatility investments include volatility index futures and equity index options and futures.
“We do not simply use volatility defensively,” says Frédéric Babu, senior portfolio manager. “One common misperception of volatility is often akin to an insurance premium that can come at a high cost over the long term. Instead, the fund also uses volatility actively to extract value from volatility through the full cycle.”
The fund is managed by Natixis Asset Management US and benefits from the expertise of Seeyond, a global investment unit of the Natixis Asset Management organisation.
