Amplify launches new fund for investors with appetite for strong performance

Cape Town - Amplify Investment Partners has launched a new flexible equity fund, the latest addition to its growing number of high-performing funds.

Amplify, whose funds are managed by independent boutique managers, has grown assets under management by 580% since 2018 to R53bn with strong performances across its local and global unit trusts, and hedge funds.

Its latest unit trust, the Amplify SCI* SA Flexible Equity Fund, managed by Fairtree Asset Management, aims to outperform inflation by 5% over three to five years. It is a multi-asset flexible equity fund, with equity exposure of 40% to 80%, aiming to preserve capital at lower risk than a pure equity portfolio.

“The fund’s managers have a strong track record in being agile, recording consistent return and protecting capital,” Amplify head Marthinus van der Nest says. “We selected them as they have a dynamic investment process and align with what we expect from our agile, independent, results-driven managers. With their dynamic asset allocation, we expect them to adapt the portfolio to prevailing market conditions to produce a strong returns performance for our investors.”

Fairtree portfolio manager Deon Botha said the fund’s managers will use a style-agnostic process with a macro overlay. They have a track record of compounding absolute returns over shorter time periods. Their experience in managing the market neutral fund translates into great asymmetric returns “by actively adjusting exposure to risk assets to provide downside protection when required”.

The fund is managed with an absolute return and seeks to provide ALBI+ returns by actively managing duration.

A big part of its strategy is avoiding drawdowns and keeping recovery time as short as possible. Botha says that with a market neutral toolset, using dynamic allocation, structured products and derivative protection, the fund plans to deliver on its mandate. “We are very agile, and not married to any positions,” Botha says. 

“We are excited about the new fund and believe it is a good fit and the fund’s managers meet our criteria. We put our faith in our independent managers and our careful selection and oversight has proved to have been overwhelmingly positive to date,” Van der Nest says. “Our incredible growth in assets under management is testament to this.”