Fitch Ratings has assigned the Henderson Horizon Global Property Equities Fund, a fund managed by Henderson Global Investors, a 'Strong' Fund Quality Rating.

The active, bottom up investment approach is based on the selection of 75-85 global property equities within a regional asset allocation that broadly follows the index. Local investment teams based in Europe, Asia-Pacific and a joint venture with Harrison Street Securities LLC in North America have autonomy in individual stock selection within the different regional allocations. The lead portfolio manager, Patrick Sumner, based in London sets the regional allocation and is responsible for the fund's overall performance. The broad research framework is consistent globally, with regional investment processes tailored to local markets.

The Henderson Horizon Global Property Equities Fund, has outperformed the Lipper category "Equity Sector Real Estate Global". The strong track record is illustrated by a Lipper Leader score for consistency return of five (highest quintile) over three and five years as at end-November 2011.
Henderson is a listed, global asset manager with GBP74.4bn assets under management (AuM) as of end-June 2011.

Launched in January 2005, the Henderson Horizon Global Property Equities Fund is a UCITS compliant, sub-fund of a Luxembourg domiciled SICAV, with USD777m AuM as at 30 November 2011.

Fitch's Fund Quality Ratings combine Fitch's experience in qualitative fund analysis with rankings and performance data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company. Fitch's Fund Quality Ratings offer an independent, forward-looking assessment of a fund's key performance and risk attributes and consistency of longer-term returns, relative to peer group or benchmarks. The ratings focus on the fund manager's investment process, key fund performance drivers, risk management, and the quality of the fund's operational infrastructure.