BMO launches GEMs smaller companies fund

Asset manager BMO Global Asset Management has launched a global emerging markets (GEMs) smaller companies fund.

The fund will be managed by LGM Investments, the specialist emerging markets manager for BMO Global Asset Management, with Irina Hunter the lead portfolio manager and Claire Franklin the co-portfolio manager. The fund has the objective of delivering long-term capital growth by investing in smaller companies which are based in, or derive significant income and profits from, emerging markets, with some investment in frontier markets as well. In line with LGM Investments’s approach, the fund will be benchmark agnostic.

LGM Investments CIO, Thomas Vester, commented: “The emerging markets smaller companies sector offers long-term investors a fantastic opportunity to find quality businesses that are not yet appreciated by the wider market.” Lead portfolio manager, Irina Hunter added: “Emerging markets smaller companies are one of the few places left where one can achieve a genuine information advantage. Simply speaking, the sector lacks research coverage and, as such, price discovery. As stock pickers, this gets us very excited and allows us to find fantastic businesses, achieving great things, which are simply not appreciated by the market… yet.”