The Swiss firm said it is offering its multi-asset fund capabilities to the Italian wealth sector for the first time.

Unigestion, the Geneva-based specialist asset manager, is expanding its Italian wealth sector presence by offering its multi-asset capabilities through Allianz Bank Financial Advisors, the private banking arm of Allianz Group.

The Swiss asset manager, which traditionally caters primarily for institutional investors, will offer the capabilities of its multi-asset fund, Uni-Global – Cross Asset Navigator, for the first time to the wealth segment in Italy, it said in a statement. 

With an investment horizon of three-to-five years, the Uni-Global – Cross Asset Navigator fund’s strategy aims to deliver returns of cash + 5 per cent gross of fees across all market conditions, with a target volatility of 6 per cent. The strategy seeks to achieve this by capturing the upside during “bull” markets while protecting capital during market downturns.

The fund is overseen by Jérôme Teiletche and the Cross Asset Solutions team of Unigestion.

Allianz Bank Financial Advisors will offer the strategy via its internal fund, X-team Unigestion Navigator, on the Unit Linked Challenge Pro platform. This platform is provided by Darta, an Irish life assurance company wholly-owned by the Allianz Group.  

Unigestion said that the Italian market is one of its most important in Southern Europe, and has been pushing into the space since 2017. 

“We are very excited that Unigestion’s flagship multi-asset strategy has been selected by the Allianz group. This shows a continued demand for innovative nimble multi-asset approaches that can help investors in the current environment of low interest rates and slower economic growth. The systematic inputs of our proprietary macro indicators `Nowcasters’, combined with the qualitative assessment of market sentiment and valuations by our discretionary PMs, offer quite a unique investment capability to navigate effectively through all market conditions,” Andrea Di Nisio, head of Southern Europe Intermediaries at Unigestion, said.