The MAPFRE US Forgotten Value Fund aims to outperform the market in the long-term.

MAPFRE AM, the insurance group’s asset manager, following its agreement with Boyar Value Group, launched MAPFRE AM US Forgotten Value, a US equity fund with the objective of building a portfolio composed of securities in which it has conviction, without sector and capitalization limitations of any kind.

The investment strategy for outperforming the market over the long-term focuses on an in-depth analysis of “forgotten” or under-hedged securities by financial analysts, thereby reducing the risk of buying over-valued companies or sectors.

MAPFRE AM US Forgotten Value invests, directly or through derivatives, around 90 percent of its equity in shares of companies listed in the United States. The remainder of the total exposure is invested in public and private fixed income issued and traded in the OECD.

Positive performance

The fund launched by MAPFRE in December 2019 grew by 7.1 percent in February for Class I and by 7.15 percent for Class R, compared to the 2.74-percent revaluation of the Stoxx 900 USA Total Return in the month. Since the beginning of the year, this revaluation amounts to 10.3 percent (Class R) and 10.4 percent (Class I), compared to the 2.64 percent of the index.

In February, three stocks together contributed 1.9 percentage points to the portfolio’s performance: Discovery (+28.5 percent), News Corp (+21.0 percent) and Twitter (+52.6 percent).

On the negative side, Dupont shaved 0.4 points off the portfolio’s performance after falling by 11 percent, and CVS Health deducted 0.2 percent after its share price fell by 4.9 percent.

Objective: To generate value to clients

MAPFRE, through its asset management company MAPFRE AM, reached an agreement with Boyar Value Group in October 2019 with the aim of improving its capacity to analyze and manage its balance sheet.

The US firm, which was founded in 1983 by investor Mark Boyar, manages institutional and high-equity client portfolios, through a value-oriented investment strategy based on buying companies that it considers undervalued by the market.

Since 1975, Boyar has been conducting an independent analysis, which it now distributes to more than 100 institutional clients on a subscription basis. Its annual Forgotten Forty report, containing Boyar’s top 40 investment ideas, has become a must-read publication for value-oriented investors around the world.

Through this alliance, the Spanish multinational, which already has more than 500 million dollars in US assets under management, provides Boyar with the possibility of incorporating its experience with European equities into its analyses, as well as its philosophy of selecting companies based on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria.

At the end of 2019, MAPFRE and Abante signed a strategic partnership to create the most competitive independent platform for financial consulting and the distribution of products on the Spanish market.

This partnership means the insurer can share in the growth of the private banking market and consolidate its leading position in asset management.

In November 2017, the Spanish company also took a 25-percent stake in the French asset manager La Financière Responsible (LFR) and launched the MAPFRE Inclusión Fund, whose objective is to invest in companies that promote the inclusion of people with disabilities. Furthermore, in the course of this internationalization process (it already has one billion in a SICAV in Luxembourg), a decision was made to domicile several funds in the United Kingdom prior to Brexit.