Coupland Cardiff has been a favoured group among a number of multi-managers. The F&C MM Navigator Boutiques and Select funds both have weightings of around 5% in the group’s Japan Alpha fund, while Richard Philbin, Harwood multi-manager chief investment officer holds the group’s Japan Income and Growth fund in a number of his portfolios. However, the group’s open-ended funds have high minimum investment levels and have therefore not been available to retail investors.
The CC Japan Income & Growth Trust plc will target an issue of £200 million by means of a placing, offer for subscription and intermediaries offer of ordinary shares. The group said the offer was being launched to ‘take advantage of the structural changes that have been taking place in the Japanese market over the last decade and that the manager believes will continue’.
The trust will be managed by Richard Aston, who also manages the Coupland Cardiff Japan Income & Growth Fund (AUM $423m). The investment objective is to deliver an attractive target dividend of a minimum of 3 pence per share. The open-ended fund is up 82.66% since inception in sterling terms, against a rise of 68.97% in the Topix.
The group said that the new trust would allow investors to diversify from traditional sources of yield, providing a dividend cover stronger than in the West. It is based on an underlying confidence in the long term prospects of the Japanese economy and a growing emphasis on shareholder returns. It added that the new Corporate Governance Code has brought about a greater focus on lifting shareholder return.
