The Allianz Structured Alpha US Equity 250 fund is based off a strategy available to US mutual investor for the past 12 years, which combines a passive investment in the S&P 500 with an actively managed options overlay.
Through buying and selling both call and put options, Allianz GI said the options portfolio is in a position to generate additional returns while also hedging the fund against extreme events. The fund is managed by Greg Tournant, CIO US structured products, whose team manages about $10bn.
“The benefits of Allianz Structured Alpha US Equity 250 are obvious, said Adam Gent, head of retail/wholesale for Northern Europe at Allianz GI. “It offers broad exposure to the US equity market, combined with the opportunity to earn additional returns that are uncorrelated with traditional market returns.
“Since the strategy was launched in the US, it has outperformed its benchmark in all rolling five -year periods. This makes the fund, which can be traded on every exchange trading day, an attractive alternative to ETFs. This applies particularly to major investors such as funds-of-funds managers or asset managers who need exposure to the US equity market. The proportion of US equities in a diversified portfolio is too large for investors to miss out on outperformance in this area.”
