LGIM’s DART to become Global Macro Themes fund

LGIM is set to change the name and investment objective of its £487m Diversified Absolute Return Trust and move it out of the Absolute Return sector.

As first revealed by Investment Week, Legal & General IM is repositioning the fund in order to emphasise its use of a global macro strategy, a fact which will be formally stated in the new investment objective.

Subject to unitholder approval, LGIM will change the fund's name to the Legal & General Global Macro Themes fund on 7 November.

The fund has been managed by Ben Gill since David North (pictured) took extended sick leave earlier this year.

DART has returned 30% since its launch in November 2008 versus an average of 12.9% for the Absolute Return sector over the same period, according to FE.

Though the fund has proved itself successful over the long term, returns have been more volatile over shorter timeframes: the fund's largest monthly loss is 11% and its largest monthly gain is 9.3%.

LGIM is now proposing to move DART to the Specialist sector as part of the changes, which will also see the fund's investment horizon shift from a 12-month to a three-year timeline.

The proposals will be put to unitholders at a general meeting on 28 October.