The proposition – that is still pending unit-holder approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for 19 December – will see the fund’s name change on the same date to the Jupiter Global Equity Income Fund and be co-managed by Sebastian Radcliffe and Gregory Herbert. Current manager Cedric de Fonclare took on the Jupiter European Income Fund in July 2011 and will remain in charge of the ex-UK Jupiter European Special Situations and European Opportunities funds. The latter is a Sicav.
Radcliffe will remain manager of the Jupiter North American Income Fund that he has run since January 2001 while Herbert, who has worked closely with de Fonclare since 2007, will continue his responsibility for managing the European portion of the Jupiter Global Managed Fund.
Radcliffe commented: “A global equity income mandate would give the fund more scope to potentially benefit from dividend growth in markets like the US where the proportion of earnings paid to investors has been historically low and allow for greater exposure to diverse global drivers such as personal income growth in countries like Brazil.
“Worry over the health of the global economy has prompted waves of indiscriminate buying and selling of assets. A global remit would, in my view, put the fund in a better position to exploit this volatility and invest in companies that have seen their share price fall but have retained their potential to become ‘dividend aristocrats’ of the future – a term used to describe those companies that have successfully increased their dividends for 25 consecutive years.”
Those investors who feel the mandate of the new fund does not suit their investment objectives can either withdraw their capital or switch their holding free of any initial charge into another fund within the company’s retail fund range.
