Geneva-based Quaero Capital has re-named its ‘Argos Funds – Family Enterprise’ fund as the ‘Argos Funds – Smaller European Companies’ fund to better reflect its investment universe.
Fund managers, Marc St John Webb and Philip Best say the management philosophy will remain the same, as they continue to invest in European listed smaller family-owned companies with a Value-based, bottom-up fundamental approach.
Investing in listed family-owned companies has increasingly become a core focus for all the funds run by the Quaero Smaller Companies team, with over 50 per cent of the assets of the Argonaut and Swiss funds currently invested in family-owned companies.
In addition to the name change, the Fund will also offer daily liquidity (from weekly beforehand) and with a 10-day notice period for redemptions.
CEO Jean Keller (pictured), says: “The fund has grown significantly in the past year, and the name change is simply to more accurately reflect the manager’s investment universe, bringing further clarity for fund selectors and end investors.”
European equity markets consolidated in June with a 2.7 per cent fall in the Stoxx 600 index. The Smaller European Companies fund proved a little more resistant, with a slight dip in June, but a rise of 7.0 per cent in the Second Quarter and a rise of 19.8 per cent since the beginning of the year. This is well ahead of both the smaller company benchmark (Euromoney +9.4 per cent) and the larger companies index (Stoxx 600 +5.0 per cent).