As a response to the structural changes in the world's population, financial services provider Allianz Global Investors has launched a global demographic equity fund.
Demographic experts are predicting that the world’s population will rise to more than nine billion by 2050. Nations in Asia, Africa and South America, especially, will experience soaring growth in the decades ahead, while the industrialized countries of western Europe and Japan are looking at falling birth rates.
However, in the eyes of Hans-Jorg Naumer, head of capital market analysis at Allianz Global Investors, the social transformation presents a series of investment opportunities. The mega trend demographics is not so much a threat, more an investment opportunity, he said.
The fund management company expects surging demand in all key industries – property, infrastructure, transport, finance, healthcare, food and consumer goods are all profiting.
At the beginning of 2007, Allianz Global Investors Luxembourg launched an equity fund offering investors the opportunity to profit from the global trend of demographics. Since April 20, 2007, the fund has been approved for public sale in Germany.
The fund invests in companies around the world that benefit from demographic changes or their consequences. It is not tied to a particular investment style, and can invest in both large caps and small and mid caps.
Features of the fund include an initial charge of 5%, while the management fee is 1.75% per annum. The fund distributes its income on September 15, each year, beginning September 15, 2008.