Toronto-based Mackenzie Financial Corp. announced on Monday the launch of Mackenzie Diversified Alternatives Fund, which is meant to provide Canadian retail investors access to alternative asset classes that are typically available only to pension funds and institutional investors.
Specifically, the fund invests in real estate, infrastructure, emerging market debt, micro-cap equities, foreign currencies, preferred shares and commodities. It also promises access to an absolute return strategy by investing in Mackenzie Unconstrained Fixed Income Fund.
“Non-traditional asset classes offer investors an enhanced ability to meet both risk/return and diversification goals,” says Allan Seychuk, senior investment director with Mackenzie Investments, in a statement. “Unfortunately, individual investors have been at a significant disadvantage to large pension plans in this area. These asset classes are more challenging for investors to analyze and access and it is also harder to know how much of each asset to include in a portfolio.”
Mackenzie has developed proprietary quantitative models to respond to this challenge and determine proper asset allocation within the fund’s portfolio. Mackenzie Diversified Alternatives Fund is meant to complement a traditional balanced portfolio of large-cap developed market equities and investment-grade bonds by increasing diversification and enhancing risk-adjusted returns.