Launching with significant client commitment, the new fund offers investors broad-based access to a high-income Swiss equity strategy by combining Vontobel Swiss dividend and covered call concepts.
The Vontobel Fund (CH) – Sustainable Swiss Equity Income Plus is an actively managed, diversified, and sustainable solution, offering strong income potential by investing in high-quality Swiss dividend stocks in combination with a covered call option overlay. The Fund’s investment objective is to deliver relative outperformance in negative, stable, and rising market phases whilst offering a recurring distribution yield of around 7-8 percent per annum from dividends and tax-free capital gains.
Vontobel has been managing Swiss equities since 1992, and the product, which complements the firm’s suite of all-cap and mid- and small-cap funds, has already attracted strong interest from investors and global banks, including UBS. It will be co-managed by investment veteran Marc Hänni, Vontobel’s Head of Swiss Equities, and Robert Borenich, an experienced portfolio manager from Vontobel’s Quantitative Investments team.
“With strong quality features, Swiss equities offer an interesting investment opportunity, especially during periods of economic uncertainty,” says Marc Hänni, Head of Swiss Equities. “Thanks to its allocation to both large- and mid-caps, the portfolio could offer investors an attractive mix of defensive, quality stocks with attractive dividend yields. Furthermore, the premiums generated by selling call options can provide not only an additional source of income, which is tax free, but also a certain degree of cushion against drawdowns in negative markets.”
“The fund leverages our long-standing Swiss equities track record and reputation, as well as our quantitative investing expertise,” adds Reto Lichtensteiger, Head of Switzerland. “By combining a Swiss dividend strategy with a covered call strategy, and adhering to sustainability criteria, we believe we are bringing a unique investment proposition to the Swiss market.”
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