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Managed by Javier Saenz de Cenzano, 'Azvalor Managers Fund' is a global equities fund which will invest internationally through the best investment ideas of thoroughly selected 'boutique' asset managers.

Central to the idea of the new fund is a desire to find managers from around the world who share a similar investment philosophy and corporate culture to that inspired by Azvalor co-founders Álvaro Guzmán and Fernando Bernad.

Guzmán said, "We have selected very experienced managers that we have known for a long time, where we can sleep well at night knowing they are managing part of our own wealth for the long-term.

While Fernando Bernad, said, "This strategy is about making available to others what we think is good for us, particularly given we personally seek to diversify our own investments through this fund.

Javier Saenz de Cenzano, said, "Azvalor is the perfect place to develop this initiative given its long-term mentality and corporate culture, which is focused on seeking the best interests for co-investors. It is really important to emphasise the alignment of interests of the underlying Managers, Azvalor, its investment team, and the fund's investors ".

Saenz de Cenzano, supported by Guzman and Bernad, is selecting managers who meet very specific characteristics: very experienced and stable teams; strong skin in the game (employee-owned firms where managers invest in their own investment strategies); specialised in a given strategy and investment process, with a reduced asset base and limited capacity; applying a process based on fundamentally-driven stock-picking, through a long-term horizon and concentrated portfolios.

The aim is to pick contrarian managers, who tend to have limited overlap with stock indices and that apply consistent investment processes, sticking to their guns under difficult market circumstances, and delivering excellent long-term returns.

Unlike a traditional "Fund of Funds", Azvalor Managers Fund delegates the stock-picking decisions, through separate accounts, on a reduced line-up of external managers. The main advantage of this setup is that the fund can access managers from all over the world, regardless of whether those managers have products registered and available for sale in Europe or not, hence expanding tremendously the universe of investable managers.

Besides, there is not a double layer of management fees for investors, and the portfolio holdings will be more transparent through full disclosure.