Cazenove’s head of multi-manager Marcus Brookes has increased the cash weighting in his £467m Multi-Manager Diversity fund of funds, and bolstered its exposure to managers uncorrelated to mainstream markets.
Since March, Brookes and co-manager Robin McDonald have sold down a Nevsky emerging market hedge fund, increasing a position in Hugh Hendry’s Eclectica global macro fund from 2.5% to 4% and boosting Jupiter Absolute Return from 5% to 7.1%.
Over the same period, the managers have raised the cash position in the Diversity fund from 11.5% to 20.7%.
Brookes says: “Preservation of capital is at the forefront of our minds. Very few hedge strategies were positioned for economic slowdown and a return to the credit crisis, but Eclectica is. We liked the fact that Hugh had the potential to actually make money in a falling market.
“With Jupiter Absolute Return, Philip Gibbs got 2008 right. We felt he was going to move this fund defensively at the first sight of trouble, which he did.”
Diversity’s equity fund holdings are in attractively valued, cash generative industries with strong balance sheets and pricing power, Brookes says.
Its largest equity funds are Invesco Perpetual Income and JO Hambro UK Opportunities at 5.9% each, and Findlay Park American Smaller Companies at 3.3%.
