The team at Vanguard [profile] just created a low-volatility quant fund.
Today the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based mutual fund giant launched its Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility, which will be quantitatively managed by Vanguard's own $17.7-billion equity investment group. The same group handles the Vanguard Windsor II Fund.
Investor shares of the new fund will cost 30 basis points and Admiral shares will cost 20.
Chief investment officer Tim Buckley stated that the new offering still "features the traditional characteristics of Vanguard funds — low cost, diversification, and a disciplined approach."
Company Press Release
VANGUARD INTRODUCES ACTIVELY MANAGED GLOBAL MINIMUM VOLATILITY FUND
VALLEY FORGE, PA, (December 12, 2013)—Vanguard today launched the Vanguard® Global Minimum Volatility Fund, which offers two low-cost share classes—Investor Shares and Admiral Shares.
The new actively managed equity fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation with lower volatility relative to the global equity markets. Unlike a traditional active fund that seeks to outperform the market on an absolute basis, this fund is constructed to offer broad market exposure with a lower degree of share price fluctuations. Vanguard expects the fund to appeal to investors seeking to lower the volatility of the equity portion of a well-diversified, balanced portfolio.
“Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund features the traditional characteristics of Vanguard funds—low cost, diversification, and a disciplined approach. To be clear, however, the new offering will experience some level of volatility and periods of return variance, potentially considerable, from the broad market, along with the risks generally associated with global equity investing,” said Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Tim Buckley.
Vanguard’s Equity Investment Group will be the sole manager of the fund. The group has considerable experience and expertise in managing quantitative mandates, serving as an investment advisor to Vanguard Windsor™ II Fund since 1991. The group oversees more than $17.7 billion in active quantitative equity fund assets and serves as investment advisor to twelve actively managed Vanguard equity funds.
The advisor will employ quantitative models to evaluate the securities in the fund’s benchmark, the FTSE Global All-Cap Index (USD Hedged), in order to construct a global equity portfolio that seeks to achieve the lowest amount of expected volatility subject to a set of reasonable constraints designed to foster portfolio diversification and liquidity. The fund is expected to invest approximately half of its assets in foreign company stocks and approximately half of its assets in U.S. company stocks, and to use forward currency contracts to hedge most of its non-U.S. positions to the U.S. dollar.
The fund’s Investor Shares will have an estimated expense ratio of 0.30% and require a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and the Admiral Shares will have an estimated expense ratio of 0.20% and require a minimum initial investment of $50,000.
About Vanguard
Vanguard, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is one of the world’s largest investment management companies and a leading provider of company-sponsored retirement plan services. Vanguard manages more than $2.4 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets, including more than $300 billion in ETF assets. The firm offers more than 160 funds to U.S. investors and more than 100 additional funds in non-U.S. markets. For more information, visit vanguard.com.
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All asset figures are as of November 30, 2013, unless otherwise noted.
For more information about Vanguard funds, visit vanguard.com or call 800-662-7447 to obtain a prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information about a fund are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing.
All investments are subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Investments in stocks issued by non-U.S. companies are subject to risks including country/regional risk and currency risk. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund is subject to currency hedging risk, which is the risk that currency hedging transactions may not perfectly offset the fund's foreign currency exposures and may eliminate any chance for a fund to benefit from favorable fluctuations in those currencies. The Fund will incur expenses to hedge its currency exposures.
The Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund has been developed solely by Vanguard. The FTSE Global All-Cap Index is calculated by FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”) or its agent. All rights in the Index vest in FTSE. “FTSE®” is a trade mark of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and is used by FTSE under license.
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