Aviva Investors is set to soft close its £366 million US Equity Income Fund in early October and plans to launch a new fund to meet growing investor demand for the strategy.
The fund launched in July 2011 is co-managed by Henry Sanders and Thomas Forsha and has gained 36.6% since its launch, according to FE Analytics. This lagged its Russell 3000 Value index benchmark, which gained 42.8%.
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The soft-closure aims to protect the interests of current investors and keep its dividend all-cap investment strategy intact. The fund targets a dividend yield 1.5% higher than the Russell 3000 Value index by investing in North American companies with a minimum market cap of at least $1 billion.
The group said new investors would be levied a 5% initial charge from October 1. It said that any existing regular investments "will cease at the end of the current tax year".
The new launch, Aviva Investors US Equity Income fund II, is planned for early September, subject to regulatory approval. It will be run by the same managers and will have an annual management charge on the RDR share class of 0.75%.
Jeremy Leadsom, sales director for UK financial institutions at Aviva Investors, said: "We remain committed to offering a geographically diversified equity income portfolio, and plan to launch a new US-focused fund in early September. The new strategy will have a greater large cap bias than its predecessor and will be less constrained while at the same time offering marginally lower volatility."
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