The new INVL Alternative Investment Fund established by the INVL investment management and life insurance group and intended for retail investors held a closing after raising EUR 5.5 million from 572 investors.
It is the first INVL fund to give retail investors the ability to invest in a diversified portfolio of different alternative asset classes: land and forests, infrastructure, real estate, renewable energy and private equity. To reduce the risk of investments in any one asset class, the alternative investments chosen will be spread over different asset classes.
The INVL Alternative Investment Fund was open to investments starting at EUR 5,000. The total term of the fund is 10 years (with extension for another 2 years possible). The fund will seek to invest in a portfolio of collective investment undertakings with a target average annual rate of return of 8%.
The fund’s offer period was challenging. A month after the start of distribution, the war in Ukraine began which both alarmed the public and fuelled tensions in the markets. In that climate of uncertainty, people took longer to assess their options.
“We see growing maturity in society as regards financial literacy and demand for long-term investment products: most of the clients who invested understand the impact of inflation and seek to put their savings to work, while at the same time looking for more interesting alternatives to diversify their risk. Surveys of our clients show that capital markets are still hard to understand and investments in physical assets seem much more dependable. Alternative asset classes and funds that invest in physical assets are often only available to informed investors who can put up at least EUR 125,000, and that’s difficult for smaller investors. We designed this product with our clients’ specific desires in mind, and we’re pleased to have offered an investment opportunity that meets their needs at the right time and to have successfully achieved our objectives for the distribution of the fund’s units,” says Dr Dalia Kolmatsui, the Head of Retail Services at INVL.
“With the situation of uncertainty receding, this is a good time to invest. The fund has already made its first investments in alternative assets. Agreements are in place on investing in units of the INVL Sustainable Timberland and Farmland Fund II, a sub-fund that invests in sustainably managed forest and farmland in the Baltic Sea region and Central and Eastern Europe. An agreement has also been signed on investments in a private equity fund managed by Blackpeak Capital with a focus on growth companies in Southeast Europe. Investments in global real estate and energy funds will be selected shortly,” says Vaidotas Rūkas, INVL’s Chief Investment Officer.
Inflation in Lithuania is currently high, and the best way to protect the value of one’s money is to invest it. For people with somewhat smaller savings, previously there were not many options: they could choose life insurance, pension funds or mutual funds that mainly invest in stocks and bonds on public markets.
“By selecting the best-suited alternative investments and forming a mix of them from different asset classes and funds, we reduce the investment portfolio’s risk. The investors themselves, having relatively small amounts available for investing, could not diversify their own investments in that way, since the minimum investment in one alternative fund is usually too large for them,” Vaidotas Rūkas notes.
He says investors view the alternative investment class as an attractive solution for diversifying an existing investment portfolio, since such investments show greater stability when markets are volatile, with hopes for a good risk-return ratio. Also important is physical assets’ trait of retaining their value in times of inflation. Hence a combination of alternative investments is a good choice that more and more professional investors are also turning to.
About INVL
INVL is the leading investment management and life insurance group in the Baltic region. Its companies manage pension and mutual funds, life insurance directions, individual portfolios, private equity and other alternative investments. More than 290,000 clients in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as international investors, have entrusted the group’s companies with the management of more than EUR 1.7 billion in assets. In the business for 30 years now, the group has solid experience in managing private equity assets and building market players that are leaders in their respective fields in the Baltic countries and Central and Eastern Europe.
Contact person for further information:
Vaidotas Rūkas, Chief Investment Officer at INVL Asset Management,
E-mail [email protected]