Wellington Management has launched a Global Equity Value fund, to be run by Stefan Brugger (pictured) based in Frankfurt.
The UCITS fund is actively managed and seeks long-term total returns in excess of the MSCI World Value Index. The team identify under-earning companies, taking into account investors’ behavioural biases, which can often influence market sentiment but not fully reflect a company’s long-term potential. This selection will create a portfolio of around 70-90 holdings, with a bias towards medium and large-cap names.
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Wellington described Brugger as having a “contrarian approach” and will enter positions where a business is reporting earnings below longer-term potential, and typically selling these positions when the team believes earnings are above longer-term potential.
The manager said: “Markets have recently been heavily driven by a few themes, leading to an extreme divergence in valuations and creating exciting opportunities for value managers. Our value approach offers a truly differentiated source of alpha and can help to diversify against extreme market concentration in mega cap stocks. Despite strong performance from the growth areas of the market, there is still a wide pool of high-potential companies on track for significant upside. This is a ripe opportunity for our stockpicking.”
Brugger joined Wellington in October 2024 and has almost 20 years’ experience including 12 years at Union Investment managing its Global Value Equity strategy.
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Roy Smale, head of global wealth management for EMEA and APAC at Wellington Management, commented on the launch:
“Clients are increasingly demanding more differentiated products in today’s new economic regime. Stefan and his dynamic approach to value investing is truly diversifying and is backed by our extensive in-house research capabilities. We are thrilled to launch the Wellington Global Equity Value fund to fulfil client demand.”