The unit trust will provide retail investors with access to an absolute return fund that uses the same advanced investment techniques currently available to Standard Life Investments’ institutional investors.

The GARS fund seeks consistent positive investment returns over the medium to long term in a variety of market conditions. The benchmark for the fund is UK six-month sterling London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) and the fund aims to outperform by an additional five per cent annum gross of fees over a rolling three-year period.

The fund is designed to exploit inefficiencies across markets and to maximise risk-adjusted returns from across the globe. It invests in a combination of traditional investments such as equities, bonds and foreign exchange and advanced techniques such as relative value, duration, credit spreads, inflation and volatility strategies.

Jacqueline Kerr, head of mutual fund investments at Standard Life Investments, says, ‘We expect that GARS will prove particularly attractive to long-term investors, who wish to invest in a fund that aims to provide positive investment returns in a variety of market conditions. It will also be of interest to those seeking to invest in an absolute return strategy while benefiting from daily pricing and liquidity, transparency, low minimum investment and competitive fees.

‘Importantly, investors will reap the benefits of the robust and actively managed risk controls we have in place and the fact that it is based on our already proven global investment philosophy and process.’

Minimum investment in the fund is £500 and has an initial charge of four per cent, and a 1.5 per cent annual management charge. For more information, visit www.standardlifeinvestments.com