Managed by New York-Clearbridge, the fund was previously only available in the US market.
The manager’s first investment company with variable capital (ICVC) for about three years, the fund will launch in October, mirroring its $4bn forerunner, the US Equity Income Builder managed by Hersh Cohen, Michael Clarfeld and Peter Vanderlee.
The fund will look for quality companies that are paying good dividend yields and offer the potential to grow income over the long term.
Legg Mason said it had decided to offer the fund to UK investors due to the increased number of American firms which were now paying dividends. Payments in the US have already broken the expected yield for the year and increased by around $26.5bn, the company said.
"UK investors have typically shied away from the US for income but US companies have never been in better health and are currently sitting on approximately $2trn (£1.2trn) of cash, much of which will be returned to shareholders as domestic demand for income continues to grow," said Adam Gent, head of UK sales at Legg Mason
He said investing in US equity income provided a far more diverse income stream and less stock-specific risk than most UK equity income strategies.
"The UK retail market will be a key focus for us in the coming years and the launch of this fund on our onshore ICVC platform demonstrates our commitment to offering UK investors access to our leading strategies in the format they demand," he said.
