The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.      

Wellington Management, an investment management firm with more than $1.3 trillion in assets under management, has launched the Luxembourg-domiciled Wellington Absolute Return Global Equity Fund, a market neutral, multi-manager global equity UCITS strategy aimed at delivering returns above cash, independent of market direction. The fund is not available to retail investors and is offered only to professional and/or accredited investors, subject to applicable regulatory requirements.

It is available to professional and/or accredited investors in the UK and the EU, as well as select markets in Asia; it is not available in the US. Within Asia, the fund is available for professional investors in Hong Kong and accredited investors in Singapore, a Wellington spokesperson told this new service.

In a market environment characterised by heightened volatility, unstable asset class correlations and lower-than-expected returns from traditional beta exposures, investors are seeking differentiated returns and ways to achieve enhanced portfolio resilience without redesigning core allocations. The fund is designed to be a liquid alternative solution to complement traditional portfolios by providing diversification and resilience across market cycles, the firm said in a statement.

The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of equity strategies managed by Wellington portfolio managers, tailoring a hedge for each allocation and maintaining tight risk guardrails at the total portfolio level to mitigate overall market and factor exposures. The UCITS fund is based on a strategy, managed by Wellington since 2022, with about $1.4 billion in assets under management. The approach is designed to isolate stock-specific alpha from opportunity-rich segments of the market, seeking to result in a return profile with low sensitivity to broader equity and bond markets, the firm continued.

“Traditional diversification alone is often no longer enough for today’s investors,” said Scott Geary, vice chair and head of global wealth at Wellington Management. “That’s why advisors are increasingly partnering with managers who can bring innovative solutions to the market to help deliver more resilient, outcome-oriented portfolios.” 

“This launch is a response to clients seeking solutions to generate returns that are less dependent on market direction and broad asset class relationships,” said Luke Stellini, head of solutions production management. “The fund aims to harness global equity alpha as a diversifying return stream that can enhance a traditional multi asset portfolio design for a wider set of investors.”