To further grow their share in the $120-billion unit trust market, Sagicor is adding three new products to its Sagicor Sigma Global funds line-up, two of them being US dollar (USD)-dominated investments.

The products are the JA dollar-denominated Sigma Income fund, Sigma Global Income (USD) and Sigma Global Markets (USD).

Unit trusts portfolios are composed mainly of fixed income securities, real estate investments and equities.

The two new USD portfolios will allow investors to both subscribe and redeem units in US dollars, said Brenda-Lee Martin, vice-president, Asset Management with Sagicor.

Sagicor currently has around 54 per cent of the unit trust market according to the most recent data, March 31, 2015, from the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

In total, there are 11 unit trust funds managed by local firms Barita Unit Trusts Management Company Ltd, Scotia Asset Management Jamaica Ltd, Sagicor Investments Jamaica Ltd, JMMB Fund Managers Ltd and NCB Capital Markets Ltd.

According to the FSC, Sagicor Investments continued to lead with 54.2 per cent of the market share followed by Scotia Asset Management with 23.1 per cent; NCB Capital Markets at 14.1 per cent; Barita Unit Trusts Management at 4.9 per cent, and JMMB Fund Managers at 3.7 per cent.

The investment mix for the entire group at March 31 saw approximately 73.3 per cent of the funds invested in fixed-income securities, 18 per cent in real estate, 6.9 per cent in equities and 1.8 per cent in cash and others.

Sagicor said assets under management through Sigma Global Funds totalled $65 billion at Dec 31, 2015.

Performance for 2015, Martin said, included 94 per cent growth in the Sigma Equity fund; 33 per cent for its Global Venture fund; 28 per cent growth for its diversified fund; 11 per cent increase in its real estate funds and eight per cent in its bond fund.

According to Martin the new offerings, Sigma Income and Global Income funds, allow regular income distribution to investors. “This income distribution can be in the form of a unit allocation to the unit holder’s account, or can be in the form of cash payable to the unit holder,” she said.

The investment manager noted that Sigma Income and Global Income are geared specifically towards persons who like the repo product, but fall below the regulatory minimum transaction size for a retail repurchase agreement — currently set at $1m or US$10,000.

“Persons can opt to receive a regular monthly, quarterly or annual income payment, as they would receive with a repo,” she stated.

Sigma Global Income and Global Markets, both denominated in US dollars, are geared towards investors who seek protection from devaluation and prefer to hold investments in US dollars based on their personal or business needs, Martin stated.