Absolute Return

Standard Life Investments is preparing to roll out a number of regional variants of its £18bn Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) fund, as well as a simplified version of the vehicle, Investment Week can reveal.

Odey Asset Management is to soft-close James Hanbury's top-performing £629m UK Absolute Return fund next week, Investment Week can reveal.

The performance of the Standard Life Investment's Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) fund significantly lagged the IMA Targeted Absolute Return sector amid recent market volatility as some positions failed to pay off.

The Targeted Absolute Return sector was the best-selling IMA sector in May, with £255 million in net retail sales, well above its average figure for the year.

BlackRock has promoted Stefan Gries to co-manager of its European Absolute Alpha fund alongside Vincent Devlin.

Threadneedle has launched a Dynamic Real Return fund for head of multi-asset Toby Nangle, aiming to deliver equity-like returns with no more than two-thirds of the volatility.

The Absolute Return sector has topped the IMA's monthly sales charts for March, posting its best monthly net sales since December 2009.

STRATEGY

ABSOLUTE RETURN

The Absolute Return sector - soon to be renamed Targeted Absolute Return - has often divided investors, particularly during down markets when some funds have failed to deliver a positive return.