CAPABILITIES

Merian Global Investors offers investors various ways to access global equity markets.

Our equity portfolios are managed by specialist teams, each with expertise in particular markets, employing a diverse range of strategies adapted to each region. Our long-only equity capabilities cover:

• the UK, including small-, mid-, large- and all-cap funds, as well as UK equity income;
• Europe, including both small- and large-cap;
• global equities, including both growth and income capabilities;
• North America, including both growth and income capabilities;
• Asia ex Japan, including both growth and income capabilities;
• China; and
• global emerging markets

Award-winning fund manager, Richard Buxton, heads the firm’s UK and European equities team, dedicated to the fundamental research of UK stocks, including large, medium and smaller companies, as well as European equities. The team has no predetermined style bias, preferring instead to run concentrated portfolios with a high degree of conviction.

Our highly acclaimed global equities team, under the leadership of Ian Heslop, uses sophisticated proprietary modelling techniques to monitor global equity markets. The ultimate aim is to produce diversified alpha with low volatility of returns. The team offers capabilities in long-only global, North American, and Asian (ex-Japan) equites, in addition to a multi award-winning long/short, market-neutral global equity absolute return strategy.

Our global emerging market equities team, headed by Nick Payne, aims to achieve capital growth from across emerging and frontier markets through high conviction portfolios of 30-40 companies that, the managers believe, possess strong business models, healthy balance sheets and, as yet, unrecognised potential.

We also work with carefully-selected external managers – who are acknowledged experts in their field – to manage funds on our behalf in markets or sectors where specialist knowledge is required.

The Merian Global Investors fixed income team, headed by Mark Nash, has four core areas of expertise: multi-sector bonds, corporate bonds (credit), emerging market debt and financials contingent capital (CoCos). The portfolio managers and analysts who specialise in these areas collaborate to share ideas on strategy, positioning and research – as well as developing a holistic view of the fixed income market.

Within fixed income, our long-only capabilities include:

• Global multi-sector;
• Corporate bonds;
• Emerging market debt; and
• Financials contingent capital (CoCos).

This structure is pivotal to our investment philosophy that having specialists in each of the major areas of fixed income, who collaborate closely, is crucial to finding value in today’s increasingly interconnected markets.

Over many years, we have built a reputation for developing innovative alternative investment capabilities, a number of which have attracted significant interest during a prolonged period of financial market uncertainty.

As with all of our funds, our alternative strategies are managed by teams with particular expertise in their markets. Our alternative capabilities, many of which are available through daily-dealing, UCITS funds include:

• long/short global equity market neutral;
• long/short UK small-cap equity market neutral;
• long/short UK mid- and small-cap equity market neutral;
• long/short UK all-cap equity market directional;
• long/short global-multi-sector fixed income;
• financials contingent capital (CoCos);
• gold and silver;
• style premia absolute return; and
• systematic positive skew

The Merian Global Investors global asset allocation team, headed by John Ricciardi, offers investors a flexible systematic approach with built-in diversification. The Merian Global Dynamic Allocation Fund invests directly (rather than through other funds) across four diverse asset classes: equities, bonds, currencies, and commodities.

Unlike traditional global asset allocation funds, which are often constrained, the Merian Global Dynamic Allocation Fund is flexible. It can adjust its allocation to equities, typically between 80% and 20%. It is not constrained by narrow asset allocation bands.

The team’s process combines deep quantitative macro fundamental analysis with decades of lead manager experience. The managers believe that global data is key to understanding market direction, but that without experienced managers interpreting the output, much of this quantitative edge can be lost.

The fund seeks to avoid exposure to harmful business practices and products. Unlike funds which invest in ETFs, the fund buys equities directly. This means it is able to exclude companies based on business practices and products determined to be harmful to the environment and society. Exclusions include industries such as tobacco and controversial weapons, as well as companies causing severe environmental damage, or involved in serious violations of ethical norms and human rights.