AllianceBernstein will launch a fully hedged version of its Global Style Blend fund next month, reacting to smaller investors who want to achieve their non-Australian dollar exposure through products rather than using a currency manager.

Asset consultants acting on behalf of “medium-sized super funds” had requested AllianceBernstein build the fully hedged version to stand alongside the existing unhedged version, according to head of institutional sales and marketing, Paul Bolinowsky. “What we’re finding is these funds want an efficient way to achieve their target non-Australian dollar exposure, without the expense of a currency manager,” Bolinowsky said. “So say they want 60 per cent of their overseas equities exposure in Aussie dollars, they can simply allocate 60 per cent of the portfolio to a fully hedged product, and the rest to an unhedged one, whether they’re both our products or not.” Offering a hedged and unhedged version of the same pooled global equities fund remains reasonably uncommon in Australia, with Credit Suisse Asset Management one of the few to offer the choice in the past. AllianceBernstein manages about $1 billion for Australian investors in its unhedged Global Style Blend pooled fund, which is a 50:50 mix between Alliance Capital’s growth strategy and Bernstein’s value approach. There are “several billion” in separate wholesale accounts on top of this, according to Bolinowsky.