ITALY - BancoPosta, the Italian post office’s banking division, has chosen Frank Russell’s multi-manager fund range for its latest capital guaranteed product offering.

The bond, Concerto no. 3: Pleiadi, will be available this month through BancoPosta’s network of over 14,000 Italian post offices and is the third of a series of guaranteed products linked to active funds created by BancoPosta.

The two previous offerings, launched in 2000 and 2001, raised over €1.8 billion – an indication of the popularity of such investment products in the Italian market.

Concerto no. 3 is a five-year capital guaranteed bond with a €1,000 minimum subscription level. The bond has a 70% equity/30% bond split and invests in 9 of Russell’s multi-style, multi-manager funds.

The bond, which will be issued by Banca Popolare di Lodi was structured by JP Morgan, who also provided the structuring expertise for BancoPosta’s two previous capital guaranteed bonds.
Russell currently has over €75 billion under management in its multi-manager funds.

Frédéric Jolly, Russell’s managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, comments: “We are very pleased to be working with BancoPosta and JP Morgan to create this innovative and unique product for the Italian market. I am convinced that the combination of Russell’s multi-manager funds and BancoPosta’s insight and positioning in the Italian market will ensure the success of this product.”
“In addition, given the recent popularity of such guaranteed products, we expect to work on similar projects in other European countries in the near future.”