The fund seeks total return by investing in companies across any size outside the United States.
The investment process starts with a list of companies in the benchmark index and the research team utilizes quantitative techniques and fundamental analysis to identify investment opportunities.
Next, the research team focuses on companies in Western Europe, and to a certain extent, emerging Europe.
The team evaluates companies on the basis of factors, such as fundamental economic strength, earnings growth, quality of management, sector growth, credit quality and interest rate trends.
The research process is driven by fundamental analysis of one stock at a time. In selecting securities for the portfolio, the research team assesses companies based on their value, quality and momentum characteristics.
Then the manager constructs a portfolio of stocks from a list of companies favored by the research team and allocates capital based on its conviction level.
The manager looks to invest in a wide range of industries and companies across multiple Western European countries.
The fund may invest in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as other Western European countries.
In addition, the fund may invest up to 8% of its net assets in securities of emerging market European issuers, including Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
Also, the fund invests in debt securities rated as investment grade.