The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relative to wealth advisors and their clients.
BlackRock
Investment titan BlackRock has launched the
BlackRock Global Smaller Companies Fund.
The fund, which is available to UK investors, seeks to capitalise
on the high-alpha potential within the smaller companies’
universe, an area of the market that has historically
outperformed larger companies over the long term, the firm said
in a statement.
Global small caps are currently trading at a 26 per cent discount
to large caps (greater still in the UK market) – around all-time
highs. This compares with the sector’s typical premium of circa
10 per cent.
The fund is co-managed by Matt Betts and Dan Whitestone within
BlackRock’s emerging companies team, collectively backed by over
50 years’ cumulative experience researching smaller companies.
The team has a long track record of investing across the market
cap spectrum both in the UK and internationally.
“As active managers, we believe small-cap stocks can present us
with the most attractive hunting ground as these companies tend
to operate in an inefficient, under-researched area of the market
and can offer the potential to generate returns for our clients
over the long term,” Whitestone said.
“Alongside the attractive valuation opportunity right now, we
believe that small-cap funds can provide excellent long-term
investment due to their historic outperformance compared to large
caps. Within this large universe, the companies we seek to invest
in are characterised by having strong management teams,
defensible market positions, differentiated or competitive
product offerings, and are underpinned by structural growth
drivers,” Betts added.
The MSCI World Small Cap index will act as the representative of
the investment universe of the fund and should be used by unit
holders to compare the performance of the fund.
Preqin
Preqin, a specialist in
alternative assets data, tools, and insights, has launched Term
Intelligence, which offers a large searchable database of Limited
Partner Agreement (LPA) terms globally and enables enhanced
private fund negotiations.
By accessing this database, alternative fund managers, investors,
and their legal advisors can benefit from greater clarity when
reviewing and benchmarking LPA terms. Ultimately, Term
Intelligence makes it possible to see whether the terms are
competitive within the market, and whether these terms, as well
as the fees and expenses, are aligned with market standards to
support LPA negotiations, the firm said in a
statement.
Preqin introduced Term Intelligence to help mitigate the
complications industry professionals face when drafting and
negotiating LPA terms. Investment professionals on both sides of
the table find the process of investing in a fund, including the
legal due diligence and negotiations, too complex and
time-consuming, the firm continued.
With Term Intelligence, Preqin said investors can conduct
thorough pre-investment due diligence on fund terms with the
assurance that they can understand the “objective baseline” of
what constitutes a market rate. Meanwhile, fund managers are able
to check LPA terms against a cross-section of funds, helping them
draft competitive data-backed fund terms to secure capital for
fundraising. Finally, law firms can provide data-driven guidance
to their investor or fund manager clients to expedite LPA
negotiations, the firm added.
