News

We’re pleased to announce that Chant West has just completed its first review of the United Sector Leaders Funds and awarded them a four apple rating. This follows hot on the heels of Lonsec’s recent decision to upgrade many of United’s multi-manager funds to a ‘Recommended’ rating.
The funds rated four apples by Chant West are as follows:

• United High Growth Fund
• United Diversified Aggressive Fund
• United Capital Growth Fund
• United Capital Balanced Fund
• United Capital Stable Fund
• United Capital Secure Fund
• United Australian Equities Fund
• United International Equities Fund
• United Australian Property Fund
• United International Property Fund
• United Fixed Interest Fund
• United Income Fund
• United Cash Fund
• United Cash Management Fund

For more information regarding the United Sector Leaders Funds and how to make them work for you and your clients, please call Charles Kneale on 0417 386 467 or our adviser services team on 1800 333 909.

The Chant West ratings logo is a trademark of Chant West Pty Limited and used under licence.

Lonsec has upgraded United Funds Management’s (United) multi-manager funds to a ‘Recommended’ rating following a recent review.

Lonsec’s endorsement of United’s multi-manager funds supports our belief that we are well positioned to meet the future needs of your clients.

The United funds that have been rated ‘Recommended’ by Lonsec include:

• United Capital Secure Fund
• United Sector Leaders Capital Stable Fund
• United Sector Leaders Capital Balanced Fund
• United Sector Leaders Capital Growth Fund
• United Sector Leaders Capital Diversified Aggressive Fund
• United Sector Leaders Capital High Growth Fund
• United Australian Equities Fund
• United International Equities Fund

For more information on United’s multi-manager offering, please speak to your relationship manager or call Charles Kneale on 0417 386 467.

The Lonsec Limited (“Lonsec”) ABN 56 061 751 102 rating (assigned December 2010) presented in this document is limited to “General Advice” and based solely on consideration of the investment merits of the financial product(s). It is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold the relevant product(s), and you should seek independent financial advice before investing in this product(s). The rating is subject to change without notice and Lonsec assumes no obligation to update this document following publication. Lonsec receives a fee from the fund manager for rating the product(s) using comprehensive and objective criteria.

In order to better utilise the combined strength and scale of our two multi-manager suites (United Sector Leaders and IOOF MultiMix), we have made a series of enhancements to the underlying manager composition of the United Sector Leaders sectoral funds.

As a result, we now have a unified multi-manager investment team, one investment philosophy and one investment process.

The changes have been driven by IOOF's Investment Team and Chief Investment Officer, Steve Merlicek, and managed through the Investment Committee which includes external asset consultant Russell Investments.

The portfolio enhancements aim to take advantage of sector-specific opportunities, reduce investment risk and improve the consistency of longer term performance.

Combining the underlying assets of the multi-manager sector portfolios not only improves size and scale, but provides additional portfolio management benefits, including:

• access to a wider universe of underlying fund managers
• greater negotiation powers with underlying fund managers
• a broader range of value-add strategies to pursue that were previously unattainable.

In addition, the enhancements are designed to benefit investors through:

• greater diversification of 'best of breed' managers, whilst maintaining existing investment objectives and strategies;
• access to a broader selection of investment strategies and styles to reduce style bias and volatility risks and improve return characteristics
• a consistently managed portfolio - professionally monitored by our multi-manager investment experts.

More detail
Further information about the portfolio enhancements are provided in the attached flyers:

Enhancements to the United Sector Leaders funds
Enhancements to the Australian Equities Fund
Enhancements to the International Equities Fund
Enhancements to the Australian Property Fund
Enhancements to the International Property Fund
Enhancements to the Fixed Interest Fund
Enhancements to the Cash Fund

United fund profiles
Also attached are new United fund profiles for your convenience. These profiles are also available from our website.

Single-sector funds
United High Yield Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Alternatives Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Australian Equities Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Australian Property Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Cash Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Fixed Interest Fund profile
United Sector Leaders International Equities Fund profile
United Sector Leaders International Property Fund profile

Multi-sector funds
United Sector Leaders Capital Balanced Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Capital Growth Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Capital High Growth Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Capital Secure Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Capital Stable Fund profile
United Sector Leaders Diversified Aggressive Fund profile

If you have any questions, please speak to your relationship manager or call Charles Kneale on 0417 386 467.