RQI launches first ex-Australia fund

RQI Investors, an active global equities quant manager within the First Sentier group, has announced the launch of its first investment vehicle outside of Australia.

The Ireland-domiciled fund is part of RQI’s flagship Global Value strategy, and is available to UK, European, Singaporean and Canadian investors.

Launched in 2008, the strategy collectively manages more than AU$3.04 billion (at 31 March 2025).

The fund is benchmarked to the MSCI All Countries World ex-Australia Net Index, with the fund returning 16.7% to investors over three years (to February 2025), 1.7% over the benchmark.

Among its current top holdings include Apple (2.52%), Novartis AG (1.17%), Banco Bilbao (0.98%), and UGI Corporation (0.90%).

The new vehicle is being seeded with US$50 million (AU$78 million), including US$20 million from a Family Office, and a further US$30 million co-investment from RQI parent First Sentier.

RQI Investors’ chief executive Andrew Francis welcomed the launch of the firm’s first investment vehicle outside of Australia, noting RQI’s ambition to “grow our highly successful business internationally”.

“The Global Value strategy has an impressive 16-year track record, is highly regarded by global asset consultants and has excellent Australian-based research house ratings. In addition, its track record is excellent versus value peers and value indices,” Francis said.

He added: “The Global Value strategy is systematic, removing the issues of key person risk, is value-titled and contrarian in its approach. It has a higher yield and lower valuations than the market cap index, providing strong diversification benefits from index investing.

“It captures the value cycle whilst avoiding the pitfalls of value investing – that is, avoiding value traps and stocks that are cheap for a reason.

“Its fees are highly competitive versus other active managers and the outcomes have been top quartile over ten years versus value peers.”

The RQI Investors Global Value Strategy is globally managed by Dr Joanna Nash, Dr Ron Guido, and Dr Wang Chun Wei and head of investments, Dr David Walsh.

RQI Investors oversees AU$23.8 billion (as at 31st March 2025) in Australian, global and emerging market shares across its Diversified Alpha and Value strategies.