LeggMason Investors Asset Managers, formerly known as Johnson Fry, has brought in a new investment trust, called LeggMason investors American assets.
The product, which will be listed on both the London and Channel Islands stock exchanges, is aimed at investors looking for both long-term growth and high income.
The investment trust will focus primarily on America, with 50 per cent invested in large US stocks, such as Microsoft, Amazon and AOL-Time Warner, as well as another 15 per cent in US bonds and other fixed income securities. The remaining 35 per cent of the product will invest in a portfolio of shares from UK split capital investment trusts.
Investors will get the long-term growth from the US stocks part of the product and the income of 8.25 per cent from the bond and split capital investment trust half.
Income of 8.25 per cent is quite high and therefore comes with increased risk. However fears that the US stockmarket might be overvalued at the moment have not stopped it from growing over the past few years. Dividing LeggMason investors American assets between bonds and US stocks spreads the risk overall.
According to Standard & Poor's the LeggMason income & growth fund is ranked 2 out of 33 funds, based on £1,000 invested on a mid-to-mid basis with net income reinvested over one year to September 4, 2000.
