Barclays GlobalAccess Europe (ex-UK) Alpha Fund

Investing in the shares of European companies can be complicated. The various countries and currencies can add a further complication over and above the usual mix of sectors and markets. To help navigate this region, many investors look to active managers to gain exposure to this market. And if the task of looking for a suitable European equity fund is difficult, Barclays has done the hard work for you by selecting three active managers to run the Barclays GlobalAccess Europe (ex-UK) Alpha Fund.

Why three managers?

Every fund manager has a particular style to how they invest. They have a unique approach to investing which leads them to investing in specific parts of the market. Some fund managers focus on companies that pay dividends, some focus on companies which are growing their earnings, and some may focus on companies that are going through change. The result of taking a particular style to investing is that sometimes this style is in favour and sometimes it is not in favour, resulting in periods when the fund outperforms and underperforms.

To overcome this reliance on style investing, one solution is to invest in a number of funds, each of which has a different approach to investing. The rationale is that if one of the funds underperforms, the others have the potential to outperform. And this is what the Barclays GlobalAccess Europe (ex-UK) Alpha Fund is designed to do. The fund is managed by three different fund managers, each of whom manages about a third of the fund.

Three different fund managers

The three managers within the GlobalAccess Europe (ex-UK) Alpha are from Allianz, BlackRock, and Invesco. These are three of the largest fund managers in the world, which means they have the ability to commit great resources to attract investment talent and to build experienced and dedicated teams to help manage the fund. And the three fund managers could not be any more different to each other.

BlackRock, for example, manages a portion of the fund along an approach that focuses on investing in companies that pay a high dividend. Allianz, on the other hand, looks for companies that are growing their earnings at a higher rate than the average company, and Invesco simply looks to invest in companies that are typically unloved and ‘out of favour’, in the belief that they have the potential to recover. Put the three together and the Barclays GlobalAccess Europe (ex-UK) Alpha Fund represents a diversified approach to investing in this market.

How to invest

The Barclays GlobalAccess Europe (ex-UK) Alpha Fund is one of 13 Multi-Manager single asset class funds on the Barclays Funds List. Find out more information about the multi-manager funds as well as other funds that invest in companies investing in Europe. Find out more information on these funds.

Correct at the time of publishing.

To diversify your investment, you may like to consider our own Barclays Ready-made Investments (RMI). The RMI are just one example of a range of diversified funds which allow you to select the level of risk you are most comfortable with. These Barclays multi-asset funds invest in passive funds across a range of asset classes and regions, offering a globally diversified solution for investors. Ready-made Investments are not the only funds that we offer and they won’t be appropriate for everyone.

Past performance of the fund and its manager are not a reliable indicator of their future performance.

We don’t offer personal investment advice so if you’re unsure you should seek that independently.

Funds are designed for the long term so you should only consider them if you can stay invested for at least five years.

These are our current opinions but the future, as ever, is uncertain and outcomes may differ.

Read the Assessment of Value report [PDF, 3.2MB] for funds run by Barclays.