Lazard Asset Management has launched a Ucits fund designed to capture “independent inefficiencies” across the US small cap market.
The fund, which has assets under management at launch of $100m, will, according to a statement, achieve its aims by “combining multiple idiosyncratic alpha sources through an AI enhanced investment process”.
The fund, which will be managed by Lazard’s San Francisco-based US systematic equity team led by Oren Shiran, will provide access to the Lazard US Systematic Small Cap Equity strategy, which has provided annualised net returns of 10.85% since launch in 2015.
It will typically hold 350 to 400 stocks with the objective of outperforming the Russell 2000 Index over a full market cycle.
Shiran said: “US small cap companies are trading at a discount to US large caps, as well as at a discount to their own history. We believe the current environment is exceptionally fertile for active management, and for strategies that can capitalise on the high velocity of change within a fragmented market, full of independent inefficiencies.”
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