Virtus Launches First Fund In Partnership With Aviva
By DailyAlts Staff Virtus Investment Partners and Aviva Investors announced their plans to collaborate on the development and launch of “multi-strategy, outcome-oriented” mutual funds back in January . Seven months later, the collaboration has borne fruit in the form of the Virtus Multi-Strategy Target Return Fund (MUTF: VMSIX ). The fund, which is expected to be just the first of several launched by the Virtus-Aviva partnership, has a very specific target: It aims to provide returns equal to those of global equities while enduring less than half the risk, as measured over rolling three-year periods. This objective is pursued through the implementation of multiple strategies of the fund’s subadvisor, Aviva Investors, which include investments in fixed income, currencies, equity, convertibles, money market instruments, ETFs, derivatives and more. “We are excited by the opportunity to provide compelling solutions for financial advisors that utilize Aviva Investors’ broad outcome-oriented capabilities,” Virtus CEO Geroge Aylward said earlier this year in a statement announcing the partnership. He also said Virtus was “particularly pleased” to work with Aviva CEO Euan Munro, whom Mr. Aylward referred to as “a pioneer in the development of liquid multi-strategy investment solutions.” Mr. Munro is part of the four-man team from Aviva charged with managing the Virtus Multi-Strategy Target Return Fund. The other managers include Peter Fitzgerald, Dan James, and Ian Pizer. “Our companies share a similar commitment to developing and offering innovative investment options by focusing on client outcomes,” Mr. Munro said, back in January. He also explained Aviva’s client-centric approach to developing well-managed portfolios, and Virtus’s ability to “effectively articulate sophisticated investment strategies” to financial advisors and their clients. To articulate the Virtus Multi-Strategy Target Return Fund’s sophisticated strategies, Virtus has produced a fact sheet and other materials outlining the fund’s three-step investment process: Develop a macro house view Bottom-up investment process dividing opportunities into three buckets: Contrarian strategies (driven by differences in Aviva’s macro view vs. the market’s); Arbitrage strategies (driven by what Aviva perceives as market mispricings); and Risk-reducing strategies (strategies intended to do well in times of market stress, including if Aviva’s views don’t play out). Combine quantitative risk modeling and qualitative assessments for construction of a portfolio with 25-35 strategies, based on a “contribution-to-risk” framework. Shares of the Virtus Multi-Strategy Target Return Fund are available in three classes: A (MUTF: VMSAX ), C (MUTF: VCMSX ), and I (VMSIX), with a management fee of 1.30% and respective net-expense ratios of 1.80%, 2.55%, and 1.55%. A- and C-class shares require a minimum initial investment of $2,500; I-class shares have a minimum of $100,000.