Toronto-based Russell Investments Canada Ltd. launched the Russell Real Assets Portfolio on Wednesday. According to Russell Investments, the new investment product offers investors greater diversification and exposure to global growth opportunities.

The portfolio allows clients to invest in an actively managed, diversified fund with access to asset classes that are traditionally harder for individuals to access, such as infrastructure, real estate, commodities and real return bonds.

The new portfolio includes exposure to the following investments:

> Russell Global Infrastructure Pool: the pool’s objective is to provide long-term growth of capital and current income through equities and fixed-income securities of companies connected to the development, maintenance, servicing or management of infrastructure.

> Russell Global Real Estate Pool: investing mostly in real estate investment trusts (REIT) and other similar investments in global real estate include retail, office, apartment, industrial, hotel and specialty property strategies.

> PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund: this fund provides investors with access to commodity futures as well as interest income from United States Treasury bills and high-quality short-term fixed income securities.

> Real-Return Bonds: this portion of the portfolio will provide investors with a fixed-income component that is linked to inflation.