Russell Investments launches Global Infrastructure and Global Real Estate Pools for Canadian investors

TORONTO, Jan. 31, 2013 /CNW/ - Russell Investments Canada Limited (Russell) has launched the Russell Global Infrastructure Pool and the Russell Global Real Estate Pool for Canadian investors seeking to diversify their portfolios beyond traditional stocks and bonds.

"Institutional investors have been looking to invest in global infrastructure and real estate opportunities for increased diversification, and we believe retail investors would benefit from this same access," said David Feather, President and Chief Executive Officer, Russell Investments Canada. "In this low return and volatile market environment, investors need access to additional sources of portfolio diversification in order to improve their risk/return outcomes."

The new Pools complement Russell's existing suite of fixed-income and equity solutions by offering investors the opportunity to invest in asset classes that have low correlations with traditional stocks and bonds. As well, global infrastructure has historically delivered lower volatility, while both it and real estate securities have historically offered higher yield than traditional equities.

"Global infrastructure and real estate are generally underrepresented in most multi-asset portfolios," said Greg Nott, Chief Investment Officer for Russell Investments Canada. "Thoughtful implementation of actively managed real assets may provide the potential for growth and income opportunities, differentiated return drivers and the benefits of active management. In today's challenging investment environment, these desirable attributes can go a long way towards helping to ensure investors actually achieve their stated investment objectives."

Russell Global Infrastructure Pool

The Russell Global Infrastructure Pool will be sub-advised by two experienced global infrastructure managers, each bringing complementary investment strategies.

Colonial First State Asset Management Australia (Limited) 

Colonial First State Asset Management is a specialized infrastructure manager with a slightly GARP (growth at a reasonable price) approach. It focuses on analyzing company fundamentals, such as the balance sheet and management team.

Colonial First State is largely oriented toward picking stocks the firm believes have strong long-term absolute return prospects. Its investment process is founded primarily on fundamental company research.

Colonial First State's objective is to provide the fund with improved diversification by investing in listed infrastructure opportunities across a wide number of sectors and geographies

Nuveen Asset Management

Nuveen Asset Management focuses on companies that either build or operate tangible assets that offer steady, predictable cash flows with limited ongoing capital expenditures. Nuveen's investment universe is larger than the benchmark. In addition to traditional sectors in the index such as airports, ports, shipping, toll roads, pipelines and several utilities categories, Nuveen also invests in areas such as public transportation, renewable energy and environmental services.

Nuveen Asset Management's research process places particular emphasis on companies with strong fundamentals such as consistent cash flow, growth prospects and a sound balance sheet.

Russell Global Real Estate Pool

The Russell Global Real Estate Pool will be sub-advised by two experienced global real estate managers, each bringing complementary investment strategies.

About AEW Capital Management 

AEW is a value-oriented investment manager that selects Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) it believes are mispriced relative to their peers. The firm seeks to generate excess return by combining a disciplined quantitative analysis with "street-level" real-estate insights and capital markets expertise.

In constructing portfolios, AEW focuses on companies whose shares represent what they believe have the best combination of value with potential for price appreciation, as well as lower downside risk.

About RREEF America

RREEF America uses an investment approach that evaluates both external factors such as the business cycle and competitive environment as well as company-specific factors such as leverage, earnings growth and competitive position, while taking a disciplined approach to managing risk. Its security selection process is focused on companies with strong cash-flow growth potential and capacity for either sustained dividend increases or reinvestment into the business to grow shareholder equity.

Investors can invest in either of the individual Pools or access them through a Russell multi-asset solution. The Russell Global Infrastructure Pool and Russell Real Estate Pool will be included in several Russell LifePoints portfolios for Canadian investors, including the Russell LifePoints Conservative Income Portfolio and the Russell LifePoints Balanced Income Portfolio, each with a 2% allocation; the Russell LifePoints Balanced Portfolio and the Russell LifePoints Balanced Growth Portfolio, each with a 3% allocation; the Russell LifePoints Long-term Growth Portfolio, each with a 4% allocation; and the Russell LifePoints All Equity Portfolio, each with a 5% allocation. They will be included in the Russell Income Essentials Portfolio, each with a 2% allocation, and to the Russell Diversified Monthly Income Portfolio, each with a 3% allocation.

About Russell Investments

Russell Investments (Russell) is a global asset manager and one of only a few firms that offers actively managed multi-asset portfolios and services that include advice, investments and implementation. Working with institutional investors, financial advisors and individuals, Russell's core capabilities extend across capital market insights, manager research, portfolio construction, portfolio implementation and indexes.

Russell has more than $162 billion in assets under management (as of 12/31/2012) and works with 2,400 institutional clients and more than 580 independent distribution partners globally. As a consultant to some of the largest pools of capital in the world, Russell has $2.4 trillion in assets under advisement (as of 12/31/11). It has four decades of experience researching and selecting investment managers and meets annually with more than 2,200 managers around the world. Russell traded more than $1.5 trillion in 2011 through its implementation services business. Russell also calculates approximately 700,000 benchmarks daily covering 98% of the investable market globally, which includes more than 80 countries and more than 10,000 securities. Approximately $3.9 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the Russell Indexes.

Russell is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA, and has offices around the world including Amsterdam, Auckland, Beijing, Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Melbourne, Milan, New York, Paris, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. For more information about how Russell helps to improve financial security for people, visit www.russell.com or follow @Russell_News.

Important information

Nothing in this publication is intended to constitute legal, tax, securities or investment advice, nor an opinion regarding the appropriateness of any investment, nor a solicitation of any type. This information is made available on an "as is" basis. Russell Investments Canada Limited does not make any warranty or representation regarding the information.

Russell Investments and the Russell Investments logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Frank Russell Company, used under license by Russell Investments Canada Limited.

Russell Investments Canada Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Frank Russell Company and was established in 1985. Russell Investments Canada Limited and its affiliates, including Frank Russell Company, are collectively known as "Russell Investments".

Copyright © Russell Investments Canada Limited [2013]. All rights reserved. This material is proprietary and may not be reproduced, transferred, or distributed in any form without prior written permission from Russell Investments.

 

SOURCE: Russell Investments Canada Limited

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