Lazard AM woos Aussie retail investors with $35b EM fund

Binaya Dahal

Journalist

5 May 2026

Lazard Asset Management (LAM) has opened its quantitative emerging markets fund to Australian retail investors, giving them access to a $35 billion strategy previously unavailable in the local market.

The $379 billion manager said on Monday that the strategy will be run by its longstanding Equity Advantage team, which blends proprietary quantitative models with insights drawn from parent Lazard’s global fundamental research network.

LAM Asia Pacific chief executive officer Paul Cuddy said the team has run the strategy since 2011 with a history of consistent returns and alpha generation.

“The team has a track record of delivering consistent outperformance, particularly in inefficient markets like global small caps and emerging markets,” Cuddy said.

“By balancing exposures to key investment styles and controlling benchmark-related risks, the strategy has a history of performing in a wide range of market conditions.”

The firm said its Equity Advantage team evaluates each company’s growth potential, valuation, market sentiment and financial quality relative to its global peers, typically holding between 175 and 300 securities.

Furthermore, portfolio risks are managed by maintaining exposures broadly in line with the benchmark across region, industry, country and capitalisation.

Cuddy said the fund was designed to complement Lazard’s existing emerging markets offering, which uses a fundamental stock-picking approach and has been available in Australia since 1997.

“We believe this fund’s quantitatively based investment process will complement rather than cannibalise the Lazard Emerging Markets Fund,” he said.

The Equity Advantage team also manages the Lazard Global Small Cap Equity Advantage Fund and the Lazard Global Equity Advantage Fund, both available to Australian wholesale and retail investors.