London-based investment manager Sarasin & Partners, part of Switzerland’s Bank Sarasin, has launched two new global equity income funds.

London-based investment manager Sarasin & Partners, part of Switzerland’s Bank Sarasin, has launched two new global equity income funds.

The new vehicles are aimed at providing a total return approach to global dividend investing and will be added to the existing Global Higher Dividend funds, which were renamed only last week.

Sarasin & Partners launched its first international equity income fund in 2006. With the addition of two further funds, the firm will have a total of four global equity income funds within its fund range. Mark Whitehead, the existing manager for the Global Higher Dividend funds, will also be lead manager for the two new funds, along with current deputy manager Darryl Lucas.

The Sarasin Global Dividend Fund and Sarasin Global Dividend Fund (Sterling Hedged) both aim to achieve long-term capital growth, whilst also generating a premium income of at least 15 per cent to the MSCI All Countries World Index. In addition, the latter fund has hedged the currency risk for Sterling investors.

“Our global thematic process has been identifying more and more high quality companies with visible growth profiles and sustainable dividend streams that have a yield premium less than 50 per cent to the market. As we are restricted in the extent to which we can hold these companies in our Global Higher Dividend fund, we can now use this thinking more broadly to benefit total return clients,” said Mark Whitehead, partner and fund manager at Sarasin & Partners.

Both funds will draw on the firm’s proprietary thematic equity selection process and will, as mentioned, offer currency hedged and currency neutral forms, said managing partner and CIO, Guy Monson, when explaining why equities continue to be a good investment.

“In spite of their strong gains in 2013, global equities remain one of the most attractive engine rooms of cashflow generation, as they benefit from new technologies, a recovery in international growth and lower real input costs,” said Monson.

The launch comes only a week after the firm announced an overhaul of its fund range and investment styles. Read more on that story, here.