Kuala Lumpur: CIMB-Principal Asset Management (“CIMB-Principal”) today launched the CIMB-Principal Global Dividend Maximiser Fund (“Fund”). The Fund aims to provide income and potential capital growth to investors through a collective investment scheme which invests in equities or equity-related securities worldwide.
Munirah Khairuddin, Chief Executive Officer, CIMB-Principal said at the launch, “The global economic growth has been relatively slow despite the economic recovery. Although market data has shown signs of gradual improvements, interest rates have not increased at the pace of investors’ expectations. Based on historical data, dividends have proven to be resilient against financial crisis; achieving positive cumulative annual growth over the past 10 years. On the other hand, yields from treasury and corporate bonds have been lingering at historical lows making yield-hunting seems impossible without adding additional risk to one’s portfolio. In this case, instead of chasing yield with higher risk to boost returns in this low-yield environment, dividend-paying stocks may act as one of the most suitable investments for now."
She continued, “Against this backdrop, CIMB-Principal Global Dividend Maximiser Fund is offered in response to the needs of investors seeking to invest in an actively managed, carefully selected portfolio of high dividend yielding equities, and to benefit from two sources of incomes, both independent of the interest rates environment. We are expecting this Fund to be well received based on the overwhelming response from our previous feeder wholesale fund.”
Following the success of the CIMB-Principal Global Multi Asset Income Fund launched last year, investors seem to favour investment products with income distribution theme. To capitalize on this positive demand, the CIMB-Principal Global Dividend Maximiser Fund feeds into the Schroders International Selection Fund Global Dividend Maximiser (“Target Fund”), an equity fund with an aim to deliver an enhanced yield of 8% p.a. along with the potential for capital growth. The Target Fund is positioned as a benchmark unconstrained portfolio in which it gives flexibility to the fund manager to seek for yields in different markets regardless of the market cycle.
Munirah added, “In addition to investing in dividend yielding stocks to provide for the income distribution, the Fund’s strategy will include selling call options from the stocks held by the Fund. This also means that investors in this Fund must understand that part of the upside gains from capital appreciation will have to be forgone due to the stable income received from the sales of the call option. With the good track record of the Target Fund, we believe that the CIMB-Principal Global Dividend Maximiser Fund will be able to produce a stable enhanced yield at lower volatility.”
The Fund can be purchased at a minimum subscription of RM10,000 while the additional investment is RM5,000. The Fund is now available for investors across different distribution channels via authorised distributors such as CWA, CIMB Bank, Standard Chartered and other reputable distributors in the near future.
As of 30 April 2015, CIMB-Principal manages a total of 59 retail unit trust funds, including 21 Shariah-compliant funds, 12 wholesale funds, 10 Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) funds and two exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
