M&G launched its Global Dividend Fund on 18 July 2008, offering investors more investment opportunities and geographical diversity.

The equity income fund aims to select the best investments from the universe of publicly listed companies to provide investors with more investment opportunities and geographical diversity from the increasing number of companies globally that offer strong share price performance, strong dividend growth and attractive dividend yields.

The M&G Global Fund is managed by Stuart Rhodes and has a total return objective that combines income and capital growth to outperform the FTSE World Index as well as other global equity income funds.

It has an active investment approach driven by bottom-up stock selection, with a focus on return on capital as the measure of corporate performance. Dividend yield and dividend growth are used as the key measures of income in a portfolio of typically 40 to 60 stocks.

Rhodes says, ‘There is a perception among investors that the UK is the only country with a long-established dividend culture. In fact, the dividend culture is truly well established in the US and parts of Europe where companies understand shareholders’ demand for dividends and the need for disciplined capital allocation in order to meet their objectives.

‘The investment philosophy of the M&G Global Equity team is to back management teams that understand value creation where this is not yet appreciated by the stock market.’

The M&G Global Dividend Fund is available to investors for OEIC and ISA investments, plus PEP transfers, with an initial charge of four per cent and an annual management charge of 1.5 per cent.

The minimum investment is £500 for lump sum payments and £10 per month for regular savings. For more information, visit www.mandg.co.uk