Vontobel Fund - US Equity

Why invest?

Our US Equity Fund is a concentrated portfolio of our best ideas across US-domiciled local and multinational companies. Our approach is based on returns being driven by a long-term investment in companies with relatively stable and predictable earnings growth that can be sustained for extended periods of time. The strategy draws on the expertise of our exclusive 23 strong investment team. ESG is integral to our approach given our focus on relatively stable and predictable ‘quality’ earnings growth combined with long-term holding periods. The fund seeks to promote environmental and social characteristics by employing an exclusion screen, as well as a number of safeguards, and evaluating all investments against sustainability criteria while also providing governance oversight. Additionally, the fund follows an active stewardship strategy through direct engagements with companies and a voting policy to support the goals of the investment style. While the strategy is benchmark agnostic, performance is shown relative to the S&P 500 Index.

Key features

• Clearly defined bottom-up approach that aims to identify the best investment opportunities in the US and seeks to promote environmental and social characteristics
• Designed to participate in rising markets and protect capital during declining markets
• Long-term track record with lower risk than the market

Investment process

Many asset managers follow a high quality growth style, but what sets the Quality Growth team apart? We have spent decades building our team and distinct investment approach. Director of Research Igor Krutov discusses the philosophy and mechanics behind our process.

Continuous five-step investment process

• Concentrate on business analysis (bottom-up approach)
• Seek high quality growth at sensible prices
• High conviction portfolio
• Benchmark unconstrained
• Long-term focus

Investment opportunity

• The US is a well-developed, deep, and liquid market with an abundance of diverse businesses.
• US companies are some of the most profitable globally, with strong corporate governance and a focus on increasing shareholder value.
• Many companies have diversified their risk by generating a significant portion of revenues and earnings from non-US sources.
• In this rich hunting ground, we search for companies that are long-term compounders, offering good structural growth, but with downside protection in challenging times.

Investment team

• 23 investment professionals averaging 20+ years industry experience; includes 3 investigative analysts that help quantify risk
• Managing the Vontobel Fund – US Equity for 32 years
• Research analysts with diverse backgrounds and on-the-ground coverage