€100 million mark exceeded as new Merill Strategic Balance Fund is launched

Merill SICAV p.l.c. has reached €100 million in assets under management as a new sub-fund, the Merill Strategic Balanced Fund (USD) – with seed money of $10 million – was launched.

As the investment manager of Merill funds, Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors Ltd has achieved another milestone in the history of the company.

This target was set by Jesmond Mizzi, in April of 2018, who stated that it was the company’s aim to hit this figure within the next eighteen months. On 4 October 2019 Merill SICAV p.l.c. launched a new sub-fund, Merill Strategic Balanced Fund USD ‘Accumulator’ Share Class.

This newly launched USD denominated sub-fund aims to invest predominantly in US assets, however, is not restricted to being exposed to this geographical region.

The objective of the sub-fund is to achieve long term growth from a diversified portfolio of investments.

The majority of the sub-fund’s investment will be dollar denominated, but the investment manager is permitted to enter into other currencies if opportunities arise. That being said the investment manager will be able to make use of derivatives in order to reduce the sub-fund’s credit, currency or even interest rate risks.

Merill SICAV p.l.c. launched its first sub-fund in 2016, the Merill Total Return Income Fund with an initial seed capital of €15 million. Two additional sub-funds were later launched in 2017, the Merill Global Equity Income Fund and the Merill High Income Fund, as well as a Sterling Hedged Share Class of the latter sub-fund which was launched in March 2019.

Merill funds witnessed steady growth throughout the years and the full range of four sub-funds now boast total assets under management exceeding €100 million.

Jesmond Mizzi, Managing Director of Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors said he was pleased to have achieved this milestone in just over three years.

“As we continue to actively manage Merill SICAV p.l.c. to see it grow and flourish, we constantly seek to explore new avenues of diversification which is key for us,” he said. “We are once again extending our product range to enable both our existing and prospective clients to diversify their investment portfolios on an international level.”

Earlier this year Merill Total Return Income Fund achieved a four star rating from Morningstar Inc.

This sub-fund continued to perform strongly and ranked first quartile in 2017, 2018 and year-to-date, as at the end of September. This rating helps investors assess this fund's track record compared to other similar funds.