Ashburton Investments launches Core Plus Income Fund
Ashburton Investments, the asset management arm of the FirstRand Group, has launched the Ashburton Core Plus Income Fund which offers a higher yield than traditional corporate money market funds.
The Ashburton Core Plus Income Fund is aimed at corporate investors looking for a competitive yield, with regular income distributions, capital preservation and next day liquidity.
The fund’s benchmark is the STeFI Composite, but the target is to beat the benchmark by 50 bps over a rolling one-year period. At a minimum investment of R20 million, this fund is suitable for corporate treasuries needing low risk options, but retail fee classes are also available.
Rudigor Kleyn, Managing Director: Corporate at Ashburton Investments, said: ”We are pleased with the fund’s AUM growth thus far, having been in operation for just over two months, it now has over R2.2 billion assets under management. It further bears testament to our client centricity, as a number of clients have asked us to launch a fund that could outperform corporate money market returns while having a conservative mandate.
“The fund has also been assigned a national scale funding rating of AA(ZA)(f), which is fantastic for a newly registered fund.”
The GCR Ratings noted that although the fund has a short operational history, the outlook is stable.
The Ashburton Core Plus Income Fund can be used as a core part of a corporate client’s medium or long-term liquidity strategies (strategy) to maximise their interest return. It is designed to be an attractive, higher interest alternative to surplus cash parked in a company’s current account or to supplement a money market fund, which has same day liquidity.
“We are excited about this fund and what it offers our clients. We are invested in creating solutions that give clients peace of mind, and it fits in well with the broader Ashburton fixed income product set, as we have built up a very good performance track record,” said Albert Botha, Head of Fixed Income and Tlhoni Komako, co-Portfolio Manager of the new fund.
