Lazard Asset Management has launched a global thematic fund, which aims to identify and invest in the structural and secular changes transforming the global economy.
The Lazard Global Thematic Focus fund will be managed by the same team behind its Lazard Global Thematic Equity strategy.
It will be managed by Nicholas Bratt, John King and Steve Wreford who will invest in a diversified portfolio of 35-50 global stocks with a long-term capital growth target.
“Profound transformations are taking place in the global economy, as digitisation becomes universal and environmental threats, societal anxieties, and regulation gain ever-greater prominence,” the firm noted, adding that the team has an established process for identifying themes, evaluating them and pinpointing opportunities.
Portfolio manager Steve Wreford said: “Our investment strategy is designed to benefit from structural and secular changes that will transform the global economy.
“Identifying significant structural themes and undertaking bottom-up fundamental analysis of individual companies allows us to construct a well-diversified portfolio of holdings which are fundamentally attractive and undervalued.”
Colleague John King added: “Our focus is on turning insights about long-term change into sustainable investment returns.
“We think about risk in a holistic way, and ESG [environmental, social & governance] is fully integrated into our process through our proprietary ‘Sustainability Framework’. We believe this will be a key differentiator in a fast-changing world.”
The team already runs the offshore $54.4m Lazard Thematic Global fund, a four FE fundinfo Crown-rated strategy.
Performance of fund vs sector & index over 3yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Over the past three years, the offshore fund has made a total return of 38.67 per cent and outperformed the MSCI World benchmark’s gain of 32.23 per cent.