Pictet Launches US "Best Ideas" Fund

Knud Noelle

21 July 2009

Pictet Funds, the fund distribution company of Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie, has launched a US “best ideas” fund.

The PF (Lux)-US Equity Value Selection fund has net assets of $15 million and is managed by a team led by Susan Byrne, Mark Freeman and David Spika of Westwood Management, a subsidiary of Westwood Holdings Group.

The fund will hold 40-60 stocks in its “best ideas” portfolio with no single position greater than 3 per cent of the fund’s assets, the firm said in a statement.

The fund managers will invest in large cap stocks, generally with a market cap of $5 billion or more.

“We believe the groundwork is in place for a US economic recovery and that the US market is therefore undervalued,” said Susan Byrne, founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Westwood.

“However, we remain cognisant of the downside risks to economic stabilisation and we are constructing our portfolios with these risks in mind,” she said.

The fund is registered for sale in Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the UK, and in Singapore, the firm said in its statement. The annual management fee is 1.2 per cent, with no minimum investment.

Pictet & Cie is a Geneva-based private bank and independent asset management firm, with €215 billion ($284 billion) in assets under management and custody at 31 March 2009.

Westwood Holdings Group is a US-based asset management company which manages over $8 billion in US equity value assets.