Janus Henderson reskins multi-strategy fund in NZD

Janus Henderson Investors has boosted its product offering for New Zealand institutional investors with its Global Multi-Strategy Fund now available in a New Zealand Dollar version.

The Janus Henderson Global Multi-Strategy Fund – Institutional NZD offers positive absolute return achieved through a variety of diversified alternative strategies, while safeguarding investments from any potential currency volatility between the Australian and New Zealand Dollar.

The manager said the fund will also work to maintain low correlation between strategies while boosting risk-adjusted returns for investors.

“Our philosophy is that  diversification works well in up markets but can be unreliable in down markets. You only have to look back as far as March 2020 when investor panic caused risk assets to fall in a synchronised manner,” David Elms, Co-Portfolio Manager and Head of Diversified Alternatives at Janus Henderson Investors, said.

“This fund addresses those types of challenges by having a protection strategy that is the mirror image of the diversified return-seeking strategies we use to generate returns in more normal markets.

“An all-weather fund denominated in New Zealand dollars will give our NZ clients greater peace of mind when market conditions are at their most volatile.”

The overall strategy, co-managed by London-based Elms, and US-based portfolio manager, Steve Cain, is also made up of seven sub-strategies managed by Janus Henderson, including:

• “Convertible arbitrage: aims to capitalise on mispricing of convertible bonds
• Event driven: looks to exploit pricing inefficiencies around corporate events or capital structures
• Equity market neutral: seeks to deliver alpha by investing long and short across pan-European equities
• Price pressure: aims to generate returns through the provision of capital to liquidity opportunities
• Risk transfer: looks to capitalise on supply/demand-driven imbalances in derivatives markets
• Fixed income, currency and commodity relative value: invests in fixed income, currency and commodity relative value opportunities; and
• Portfolio protection: seeks to mitigate left tail risk through a multi-faceted protection strategy.”

The fund will seek to outperform its benchmark, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s official cash rate, by seven per cent per annum (before fees) over rolling three-year periods.

“The fund re-confirms our commitment to the New Zealand market, as we tailor one of our flagship funds towards the needs of local investors,” Matt Gaden, Head of Australia at Janus Henderson Investors, said.

“Janus Henderson is committed to providing opportunities for both institutional and retail investors when and where it makes sense to best suit respective needs.”