No big boys please

Carmel Fisher launches her New Zealand equity fund.

Wednesday, August 12th 1998, 12:00AM

Carmel Fisher has, this week, kicked off her New Zealand equity fund that is not allowed to invest in any of the top 10 stocks.
The Fisher Funds New Zealand Growth Fund has started with $17 million, which is the New Zealand equity portion of Sovereign's business.
Fisher says that is slightly less than originally anticipated because of market movements and asset allocation changes.
The fund is designed to be a niche product that nicely compliments the index funds, such as TeNZ.
Fisher says the fund will be a true growth fund, holding stocks for long periods. It won't be chasing dividend yield, or one-off gains from merger and acquisition activity.

"We have very definitely got a growth focus," she says. "We will be true to style."
While the fund is active the manager has chosen not to rely on cash as a fallback when the market is doing poorly.
It is allowed to have up to five per cent of its assets in cash, however Fisher prefers to keep it fully invested.
The closest competitors are Prudential's Emerging Companies fund (which Fisher used to manage) and New Zealand Guardian Trust's Small Company fund.
Fisher describes the market conditions as being very similar to 1992 when Pru's Emerging Companies fund was launched.
She says the recovery won't be so clear cut as it was in 1992, when it started with the export orientated stocks and was followed by the domestic sector, however it will happen.
Fisher will be promoting the fund to advisers following the New Zealand Financial Advisers Conference in Christchurch.

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