The asset management arm of New York-listed Lazard has added to its US equity offering.

Lazard Asset Management has launched a UCITS-compliant US equity fund.

The Lazard US Equity Concentrated Fund will use a high conviction, bottom-up stock selection approach to invest in around 20 companies across the market cap spectrum.

The benchmark-agnostic fund is based on the existing Lazard US Equity Concentrated strategy, which, in US dollar terms, returned 7.93 per cent last year. It will be managed in New York by portfolio managers Christopher Blake and Martin Flood, who will be supported by a 23-strong US equity investment team.

“A large number of UK investors with significant exposure to index funds and exchange-traded funds are adopting a core and satellite approach to investing in US equities,” said Blake. “We believe that the concentrated, high active share approach employed in our fund can complement passive investments.” 

“We believe that the US opportunity set is extremely attractive as it is the largest and most liquid market worldwide. Furthermore, US companies represent some of the most financially productive globally, with healthy balance sheets, strong earnings, robust free cash flow and reasonable valuations,” added Flood. 

As of the end of 2015, Lazard Asset Management and its affiliated asset management companies in the Lazard Group managed £120.5 billion ($167 billion) of client assets worldwide.