The fund is managed by New York-based Christopher Blake and Martin Flood, who will be working together with a US equity investment team made up of 23 investment professionals.
Lazard believes that this fund can work in conjunction with passive products that fund selectors use to access the US equity market, according to a Lazard spokesperson. It targets US investors with significant exposure to index funds and ETFs who are adopting a core and satellite approach to investing in US equities, said the firm.
“A large number of UK investors with significant exposure to index funds and ETFs are adopting a core and satellite approach to investing in US equities” said Christopher Blake, portfolio manager of the Lazard US Equity Concentrated Fund. “We believe that the concentrated, high active share approach employed in our fund can complement passive investments.”
The Ucit fund will follow a high conviction, bottom-up stock selection, and will invest in around 20 companies that Lazard believes have strong or improving levels of financial productivity. The fund, which is benchmark agnostic, will invest across the market cap spectrum.
“We believe that the US opportunity set is extremely attractive as it is the largest and most liquid market worldwide. Furthermore, US companies represent some of the most financially productive globally, with healthy balance sheets, strong earnings, robust free cash flow and reasonable valuations,” said Flood.
