Toby Hayes from Insight Investment Management Limited, fund manager for the La Valette Multi Manager Property Fund was the guest speaker during a sales seminar held by Valletta Fund Management Limited for Bank of Valletta employees last month.
Insight Investment Management Limited, part of the Halifax Bank of Scotland Group, acts as the Sub-Investment Manager of La Valette range of funds.
During this seminar, which was held at the Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort and Spa, Mr Hayes outlined the success factors of the La Valette Multi Manager Property Fund, which as at 3 January 2007 has a fund size of more than e60 million and has, for the period from launch on 13 September 2005 to 3 January 2007, delivered an annualised return of 11.53 per cent.
Mr Hayes said, “This success has primarily been achieved due to the fund’s focus on underlying funds that invest directly into real estate property rather than investing in indirect property funds.
Moving forward, the fund intends to continue to focus mainly on direct property funds to give investors the purest exposure to the property asset class. While direct property funds were also a solid contributor to returns over the year, tactical allocations to undervalued markets, such as Asia, also added value.”
Peter Perotti, general manager of Valletta Fund Management Limited said, “Over the course of 2006, Valletta Fund Management Limited has continued to register strong growth in its funds under management.
Besides the success of the La Valette Multi Manager Property Fund, the Vilhena Dynamic Multi-Manager Fund, which was launched in November 2006, has generated more than e22 million worth of investment as at 17 January 2007.”
The sales seminar was also addressed by David Pace Ross, from Bank of Valletta’s Stockbroking, Advisory and Portfolio Management Unit, who gave a review as well as an outlook of the local market while Mark Vella, head of marketing at Valletta Fund Management Limited, spoke about the wide range of euro-denominated products that VFM has to offer to Maltese investors as the country gears itself to adoption of the single European currency in January 2008.