Standard Life Investments has announced details of its Global Smaller Companies Fund, due to launch on 19 January next year.

The firm’s head of smaller companies, Harry Nimmo, and investment director for the smaller companies division, Alan Rowsell, will manage the fund.

Rowsell recently joined the team after spending five years working as a US equity portfolio manager for Standard Life Investments in its Boston office.

The new fund will cover stocks across North America, Europe, the UK, Asia, Japan and emerging markets, its primary objective being to generate long-term capital growth and returns through a concentrated portfolio of 40 to 80 stocks.

Benchmarked against the MSCI All Country World Small Cap Index, the fund – which has a volatility rating of 7 – will sit in the IMA Global Sector, the firm said in a statement.

“In the short term, the shadow of the euro hangs over all asset classes and markets. However, the recent period of weakness is beginning to turn up high-quality growth businesses at really quite modest valuations. The current levels of pessimism in markets mean that negative scenarios are already being built into many share prices,” said Nimmo.

“Our focus will be on growth markets, business momentum, quality and predictability. Sectors featured may include those as diverse as high-quality Indian regional banks, developing retail concepts that work well across the US and have international potential, businesses that effectively harness the internet to reach customers and companies exposed to changing consumer patterns that come with increased urbanisation in China,” Nimmo said.

The fund will be available pre-launch exclusively through Hargreaves Lansdown’s vantage platform from 23 December.