Highland Funds Asset Management, the Texas-based funds manager, has introduced an equity fund that invests in high-quality stocks with below-market risk profiles, the firm says.

The Highland Dividend Equity Fund emloys a strategy of investing in individual common stocks that seek to provide above-average yield with the potential for long-term gains. The strategy will not be limited to a specific investment style or market capitalization, and will choose stocks of firms from all 10 economic sectors, as defined by Standard & Poor's. 

The company expects initial seed funding to exceed $15 million. Serving as sub-advisor is Brookmont Capital Management. 

"With bond yields as low as they are, people have embraced dividend-paying stocks as a great way to increase income from their investment portfolio. They're looking for high quality, low volatility, tax efficiency and current income," said Robert Bugg, the co-founder and portfolio manager of the fund, and employee of Brookmont. 

Highland Funds is a subsidiary of Highland Capital Management, which has approximately $24 billion in assets under management. Its offerings are classified into open-end mutual funds and traditional closed-end funds. The unit has a total of $3 billion in retail AuM.