CAF scraps two CIFs in portfolio overhaul

Finance | Gareth Jones | 16 Dec 2010

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is to dissolve two of its common investment funds (CIFs), and will instead offer a series of multi-manager ‘fund of funds’.

As part of changes which it says are based on client feedback, CAF has partnered with Octopus Investments to offer ongoing personalised advice on issues such as asset allocation.

While the CIFs were restricted to a single-manager, single asset approach, the new funds will be open-ended investment companies (OEICs), which have the option to blend asset classes and which will utilise funds run by various managers.

As a result, the CAF UK Equity Growth and CAF Bond Income funds will be wound up and holdings will be transferred to two new funds, namely the ‘UK Equity’ and ‘Fixed Income’ respectively.

The other two new funds created will be for ‘Global Equity’ and Alternative Strategies’. Subject to FSA approval the new funds, which will be exclusive to charities, should open in March 2011.

CAF’s existing funds, the CAF UK Equitrack CIF managed by Legal and General, and its Socially Responsible Portfolio managed by F&C Investments, will continue in their current form.

John Low, chief executive of CAF, said: “The investment of charitable funds is an important decision. I hope these changes, which are based upon extensive feedback from existing clients, will make investment decisions easier.

“The new funds will enable charitable organisations and CAF Trust account holders to create a tailored portfolio from a wider range of asset classes with different levels of risk and reward, depending upon their investment needs.”

New style of service

Octopus Investments is best know as a retail fund management company, selling to individuals in the UK and with £2bn assets under management, and managing director Guy Myles told Civil Society this venture represents a new area for the firm.

“We look for markets where there’s a significant unmet need or demand for a new approach, so we’ve used that method in all the areas we’ve operated in and gone on to be the market share leader in all the areas we’ve operated in so far.

“Together with CAF we became convinced there was a major opportunity to offer a high quality new style of service with different features.”

Directory: Charities Aid Foundation

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.