Business

Wednesday November 11, 2009

Investment guru in Asia to promote index


KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has teamed up with Wall Street investment guru Joel Greenblatt of Gotham Capital International to launch a new family of indices - based on the value investing principles espoused in Greenblatt’s best selling book, The Little Book That Beats The Market.

The Gotham Enhanced Value Index (GEVI) is made up of 25 quality, liquid US stocks.

The GEVI was launched in Singapore on Monday and Greenblatt, Gotham’s managing partner, was in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to promote the index to local investors.

“We are delighted to partner RBS to launch the index that seeks to systematically purchase good quality companies when they are available at bargain prices.

Gotham Capital managing partnerJoel M. Greenblatt

“It is our belief that this simple, logical and consistent quantitive approach has significant advantages over traditional indices,’’ Greenblatt said at a press briefing yesterday to select local publications.

This was Greenblatt’s first business trip to Asia.

His team from Gotham, together with representatives from RBS will be making stopovers all over Asia over the next couple of days to market the product.

“We are targeting institutional fund managers and retail investors,’’ said Garry Frenklah, RBS managing director for global banking and markets.

The GEVI was developed by Gotham, and will be updated every quarter.

It is independently calculated by Standard & Poor’s and will be traded by RBS through an exclusive partnership.

“The GEVI series offers investors a robust and transparent investment tool for generating exceptional simulated performance through value investing strategy,” Frenklah said.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Greenblatt and Gotham Capital in bringing the GEVI series to Asian investors,’’ he added.

A global version of the index would be launched by the end of the year that will comprise a select universe of securities in the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe.

An international version that excludes US stocks is also in the pipeline.

Gotham Capital is a hedge fund founded by Greenblatt in 1985.

Unlike most hedge funds, the GEVI series has a rigorous rules based methodology that offers transparency to investors.

According to RBS, there is no performance fee for the indices, although a “reasonable” management fees will be imposed.

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