First State halves equity exposure on Diversified Growth fund

Defensively positioned

The team running First State Investments' Diversified Growth fund has positioned the portfolio "very defensively", including reducing equity exposure from 55% last year to less than 20%.

The £20m fund, managed by a nine-strong team, is the firm's only multi-asset vehicle for UK retail investors and was launched into this market two years ago, having previously been an institutional product. It aims to achieve a return of RPI plus 4% over a rolling 5-year period. Commenting on recent moves on the fund, multi-asset manager Andrew Harman said equity exposure had been significantly cut back to 18% as a way of protecting the portfolio, although he is not buying extra protection at this time. He said: "We can buy protection via option strategies or we can buy the VIX but we...