Allianz Global Investors has launched a new European equity fund which will be managed by Thorsten Winkelmann and Matthias Born. 

The Allianz Europe Equity Growth Select fund will have a portfolio of around 30-45 stocks from the European markets with a minimum market capitalisation of above €5 billion ($4.2 billion), the firm said in a statement.

The managers will take a bottom-up, research-driven investment approach to select stocks with competitive advantages and high barriers to entry.

“This high conviction fund has been launched to provide investors with long-term capital growth by investing in European equities. Against a backdrop of a low growth environment and concerns over top-down issues in Europe, the fund’s bottom-up approach gives investors exposure to a concentrated portfolio of growth stocks," said Nick Smith, head of retail sales at Allianz GI.

In the last three years, the Winkelmann and Born-managed Europe Equity Growth fund has returned 52.3 per cent compared to 28.5 per cent for the benchmark S&P Europe LargeMidCap fund over the same period.