Demand For Defensive Equity Mandates On The Rise

Institutional investors in the U.S. are ratcheting up requests for defensive equity managers, as the drawdowns in the Standard & Poor’s 500 over the last 12 months have served as a reminder that allocators need to lock in stock-market gains. Princeton, N.J.-based asset manager Intech says its mathematical-based defensive equity strategies have been growing steadily as it has expanded the types of strategies it offers, and it expects to see further growth in the sector.