OREANDA-NEWS. Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc (‘Aviva’), announces the launch of the second capability in its AIMS (Aviva Investors Multi-Strategy) range. Designed to deliver solutions that meet the financial goals of customers, the Target Income capability follows the successful launch of the AIMS Target Return capability in July 2014.

The AIMS Target Income capability is an actively managed, globally-unconstrained multi-strategy capability that aims to deliver an annual income in all market conditions.

The capability:

  • Aims to deliver an annual income of 4% above the Bank of England base rate before corporation tax.
  • Seeks to preserve capital.
  • Manages volatility to a target of less than half the volatility of global equities over any three-year period.
  • Pays income on a monthly basis.

The capability is managed by Peter Fitzgerald, Head of Multi-Assets and Ian Pizer, Nick Samouilhan and Brendan Walsh, Portfolio Managers in the Multi-Assets team. The team currently manages over ?60 billion in multi-asset portfolios. They are supported by a dedicated risk analysis team and an investment strategy team. Chief Executive Euan Munro chairs the Strategic Investment Group, a company-wide forum that provides the portfolio managers with investment ideas.

Euan Munro, Chief Executive of Aviva Investors, said:

“Freedom of choice for customers will be crucial in 2015. From our conversations with them, we have found they are increasingly looking for outcome-focused investments, dictated by their financial needs rather than a benchmark.  With that in mind, we created the AIMS suite of products. The Target Return capability, the first in the range, responded to clients' goals of achieving reliable growth and now we’re addressing the need for a reliable income stream with the Target Income capability.”

Peter Fitzgerald, Head of Multi-Assets and Co-Fund Manager added:

“Our philosophy is that properly constructing portfolios is as important as coming up with good investment ideas. Clients want their money to work hard and be protected in all market conditions and the strategies in the AIMS Target Income capability are designed to interact with each other whatever is happening in markets. Clients also manage their finances on a monthly basis and expect monthly income payments, rather than capabilities which pay on a quarterly basis. We believe that this a truly differentiated income proposition.”

About the capability

To achieve its target income, the capability’s managers have the freedom to invest in a broad range of different strategies. The capability seeks multi-year timeframe opportunities identified by research and analysis, while managing overall portfolio risk over both the long term and the short term.  The capability intends to pay natural income to clients, rather than capital as income.

The capability is unconstrained by a benchmark, with assets allocated between investment strategies depending on how much each one contributes to the capability’s risk. This means that in aiming to meet the investment objective, the portfolio managers can invest as much or little as they want across asset classes and geographies.

Portfolio Managers Peter Fitzgerald, Ian Pizer, Nick Samouilhan and Brendan Walsh are supported by the 12-strong Multi-Asset Portfolio Management team, who will assist with the management of the capability on a day-to-day basis. In addition, there is further support from a dedicated risk analysis team and an investment strategy team, which is responsible for formulating investment views and themes across the board.

The income target is expressed as an annual target, measured daily from 1 April to 31 March each year, using the prevailing Bank of England Base Rate and is based on the daily value of the capability. Because the period from the capability’s launch to its first accounting year end at March 2015 is less than 12 months, monthly income payments may not equate to the stated annual income target in this initial phase.