Touchstone Investments (Touchstone), a mutual fund company centered on active management and benchmark differentiation, today announced the launch of two new funds: Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Fund Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Fund.
TOBAM is sub-advisor to both Funds, each of which seeks capital appreciation as its objective. The Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Fund invests in approximately 70 to 100 securities in TOBAM’s proprietary Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Index. The Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Fund invests in approximately 100 to 150 securities in TOBAM’s proprietary Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Index.
TOBAM’s methodology seeks to enhance diversification and improve risk-adjusted returns of portfolios. TOBAM’s Anti-Benchmark® strategy is designed to avoid bias in portfolio construction that can ultimately lead to large risk concentrations within sectors, factors or individual securities. This facilitates the creation of portfolios that seek to mitigate the inherent concentration risks associated with capitalization-weighted benchmarks (e.g., S&P 500 Index).
“These strategies are consistent with Touchstone’s DISTINCTIVELY ACTIVE® positioning insofar as they are markedly different than the broad market indices. We believe that TOBAM’s Anti-Benchmark® methodology is the latest innovation in core-satellite and asset allocation investing,” said Steven M. Graziano, president of Touchstone Investments. “TOBAM’s patented strategy is designed to provide investors with diversified core exposure. It offers innovative investment capabilities designed to increase diversification and reduce volatility compared to traditional benchmarks over a market cycle. These strategies are ideal for those asset allocators who believe in the benefits of diversification.”
Touchstone has also entered into a marketing services agreement to distribute TOBAM Anti-Benchmark® strategies in the United States with select intermediaries.
Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. The prospectus and the summary prospectus contain this and other information about the Fund. To obtain a prospectus or a summary prospectus, contact your financial advisor or download and/or request resources or call Touchstone at 800-638-8194. Please read the prospectus and/or summary prospectus carefully before investing.
About Touchstone InvestmentsTouchstone Investments is a DISTINCTIVELY ACTIVE® mutual fund company committed to providing investors with access to institutional asset managers who act in a sub-advisory capacity. Managed by sub-advisors with high conviction, concentrated portfolios, Touchstone’s entire equity fund lineup is composed of high Active Share funds, which means their holdings are highly differentiated from their benchmarks. Touchstone’s sub-advisor selection and monitoring approach is built upon the conviction that an asset manager’s organizational stability, quality of its personnel, adherence to its investment discipline and infrastructure represent the elements of repeatable, value-added performance results over time. This philosophy has resulted in a diverse but focused product offering that gives investors a full breadth of investment options across styles and asset classes. The Touchstone Funds are advised by Touchstone Advisors, Inc., a registered investment advisor, and are distributed nationally through intermediaries, including broker-dealers, financial planners and institutions by Touchstone Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Touchstone, Touchstone Funds and Touchstone Investments are federal service mark registrations and applications owned by IFS Financial Services, Inc. Touchstone Securities, Inc., Touchstone Advisors, Inc., and IFS Financial Services, Inc., are members of Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern).
About TOBAM S.A.S.
TOBAM is an asset management company offering innovative investment capabilities designed to increase diversification. Its mission is to provide rational and professional solutions to long-term investors in the context of efficient (i.e., unforecastable) markets. Formed in 2005 by Yves Choueifaty, it is independent and employee-owned. It has two minority shareholders: California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) since April 2011 and Amundi since May 2012. The company manages $10.4 billion (as of September 2018) in equities and fixed income. Its investment team is composed of 54 professionals representing 18 different nationalities. TOBAM is regulated by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) since June 2006 and is an SEC-registered investment adviser.TOBAM Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Index and TOBAM Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Index data ©2018, TOBAM S.A.S. All rights reserved. Anti-Benchmark® is a registered trademark and service mark of TOBAM S.A.S. or its affiliates (“TOBAM”) and is used under license for certain purposes by Touchstone Advisors, Inc. Reproduction of the TOBAM data and information in any form is prohibited except with the prior written permission of TOBAM S.A.S. Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Fund and Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Fund are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by TOBAM and TOBAM makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such funds. TOBAM DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, OWNERS OR PROSPECTIVE OWNERS OF SECURITIES OF THE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE TOBAM Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Index, THE TOBAM Anti-Benchmark® INTERNATIONAL Core Equity Index OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN.
Solactive AG is the third-party calculation agent of the TOBAM Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Index and TOBAM Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Index and received compensation in that capacity. Solactive AG does not sponsor, endorse, sell or promote any investment vehicle that is offered by any third party that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
The financial instrument is not sponsored, promoted, sold or supported in any other manner by Solactive AG nor does Solactive AG offer any express or implicit guarantee or assurance either with regard to the results of using the Index and/or Index trademark or the Index Price at any time or in any other respect. The Index is calculated and published by Solactive AG. Solactive AG uses its best efforts to ensure that the Index is calculated correctly. Irrespective of its obligations towards the Issuer, Solactive AG has no obligation to point out errors in the Index to third parties including but not limited to investors and/or financial intermediaries of the financial instrument. Neither publication of the Index by Solactive AG nor the licensing of the Index or Index trademark for the purpose of use in connection with the financial instrument constitutes a recommendation by Solactive AG to invest capital in said financial instrument nor does it in any way represent an assurance or opinion of Solactive AG with regard to any investment in this financial instrument.
A Word about Risk
The Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Fund and the Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Fund invest in equities, which are subject to market volatility and loss. The Funds invest in preferred stocks, which are relegated below bonds for payment should the issuer be liquidated. The fixed dividend may be less attractive in a rising interest rate market. As the Funds are intended to track their respective Index, portfolio managers do not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including during declining markets. TOBAM uses proprietary statistical analyses and models to construct the Indexes, which the Funds seek to track. Securities portfolios selected using TOBAM’s proprietary models can perform differently than the market as a whole as a result of the correlation factors used in the analysis to construct the models, the weight placed on each factor, and changes in the factors’ historical trends. As a result, the Funds may be more or less exposed to a risk factor than their individual holdings. The performance of the Funds and their Indexes may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Funds incur operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Indexes. The Advisor engages a sub-advisor to make investment decisions for the Funds’ portfolios; it may be unable to identify and retain a sub-advisor who achieves superior investment returns relative to other similar sub-advisors. The Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Fund has additional risks as it invests in foreign securities, which carry the associated risks of economic and political instability, market liquidity, currency volatility and differences in accounting standards. Foreign receipts, which include American Depositary Receipts, Global Depositary Receipts, and European Depositary Receipts, are securities that evidence ownership interests in a security or a pool of securities issued by a foreign issuer. The risks of depositary receipts include many risks associated with investing directly in foreign securities.
TOBAM’s quantitative investment process is supported by extensive proprietary computer code. TOBAM’s researchers, software developers, and IT teams follow a structured design, development, testing, change control, and review processes during the development of its systems and the implementation within TOBAM’s investment process. These controls and their effectiveness are subject to regular internal reviews. However, despite these extensive controls it is possible that errors may occur in coding and within the investment process, as is the case with any complex software or data-driven model, and no guarantee or warranty can be provided that any quantitative investment model is completely free of errors. Any such errors could have a negative impact on investment results.
Company Contact:
Sharon Karp
Touchstone Investments
513-362-8026
sharon.karp@touchstonefunds.com
Media Contact:
José Marques
Western & Southern Financial Group
513-629-1448
