Neuberger Berman has launched the Neuberger Berman US Equity Index PutWrite Strategy Fund, which seeks to provide individual investors with exposure to equity market returns with less volatility. 

The fund's investment approach seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through harvesting premiums from selling puts on US equity indexes combined with income potential from a conservatively managed collateral portfolio.
 
Doug Kramer, co-head of quantitative and multi-asset class investments at Neuberger Berman, says: "As equity markets push toward all-time highs, we are pleased to offer investors a defensively positioned lower volatility strategy that also seeks to maintain equity upside potential in mutual fund format."
 
The fund is managed by Neuberger Berman's options group investment team which is part of the quantitative and multi-asset class team. Derek Devens, managing director, is the fund's senior portfolio manager and is supported by research analysts Rory Ewing and Eric Zhou.
 
Devens says: "We are excited to offer investors access to an index PutWrite strategy with a disciplined, all-cap investment approach. A growing number of individual and institutional investors are utilising put writing strategies to seek to promote portfolio return consistency in disparate market environments, and to complement equity exposure."