During its fourth annual general meeting, Merill SICAV plc announced that the assets under management had now reached €118 million as at January 2020, when compared to just over €71.2 million in January 2019.
Merill SICAV plc is managed by Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors Ltd (JMFA) and has four fund strategies, all highly diversified and aimed at generating long-term growth, despite the fact that the distribution share classes pay income regularly.
During a presentation following the annual general meeting in which all resolutions were approved, Jesmond Mizzi, managing director of Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors, delivered a presentation to the shareholders.
He said that the Merill Total Return Income Fund which was launched in 2016 with €15 million seed capital from Atlas Holdings has now exceeded €38.2 million.
Last year, this sub-fund achieved a positive four-star rating from Morningstar Inc., as it continued to perform strongly and ranked first quartile in the past three years and year-to-date as at January 2020.
Mizzi also reported on two additional sub-funds which were launched in the second quarter of 2017: the Merill Global Equity Income Fund has reached over €12.5 million and the Merill High Income Fund has nearly reached the €55 million mark.
Diversification is key in all fund strategies
A sterling hedged share class of the latter was launched in March of 2019 in which €15 million are invested, with the remaining €40 million being invested in the Merill High Income Fund Euro share class.
The investment manager reported that the fourth and relatively new sub-fund, the Merill Strategic Balanced Fund USD ‘Accumulator’ Share Class was launched in October 2019.
The objective of this USD-denominated sub-fund is to achieve long-term growth from a diversified portfolio of investments.
Merill Strategic Balanced Fund (USD), launched with seed money of $10 million, has now already increased to $15 million in investment.
A good part of this increase in the sub-funds can also be explained by the capital attracted from foreign institutions, which entrusted their monies to be managed by Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors.
In his concluding statement, Mizzi expressed his satisfaction at how Merill SICAV plc is performing and achieving extraordinary results.
“As promoters of the fund, the company will continue to strengthen and build on what we have started, to increase the investment injected in our funds from both local and international investors,” he said.
“Diversification is key in all fund strategies as we believe that a diversified portfolio can offer the best investment opportunity while also protecting value during different market periods. We will strive with determination to retain the good reputation and steady performance of the SICAV and reach new milestones including that of achieving €150 million in the near future.”