MoneyAM Fund Centre

Quick Stats

Fund Objective

The Fund aims to provide a return on your investment (generated through an increase in the value of the assets held by the Fund) over the long term (5 or more consecutive years beginning at the point of investment). The Fund invests at least 70% of its total assets in the equity securities (e.g. shares) of medium and smaller companies which are incorporated or listed on stock exchanges, in the United States. Small and medium companies are companies, which, at the time of purchase, form the bottom 30% of United States stock markets by market capitalisation. Market capitalisation is the share price of the company multiplied by the number of shares issued. The Fund has the flexibility to invest outside of the asset class and sector set out above.

Fund Managers

Tony DeSpirito

Antonio (Tony) DeSpirito, Managing Director, is Chief Investment Officer of U.S. Fundamental Active Equity. He is also lead portfolio manager of the BlackRock Equity Dividend portfolios. Mr. DeSpirito joined BlackRock in 2014. He was previously a Managing Principal, portfolio manager, and member of the Executive Committee at Pzena Investment Management, where he was responsible for a suite of long-only value products and two hedge fund portfolios. Mr. DeSpirito has managed value equity assets since 1996, serving as a portfolio manager for the John Hancock Classic Value, PACE Large Company Value, and Vanguard Windsor funds. Mr. DeSpirito earned a BS degree in economics with a concentration in finance, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a JD degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

David Zhao

David, who began his career as an analyst covering technology mergers and acquisitions, has now built up 19 years of investment experience and has worked across many sectors, including technology, US banks, medical technology, non-life insurance and financial technology. At BlackRock, his role is to work closely with research analysts to prioritise new investment ideas, to ensure research best practices are followed and to help develop the team’s collective investment talent. He also has research responsibilities for the technology and financial services sectors.

Franco Tapia

Franco Tapia has 18 years of investment experience and an impressive background. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar. He also holds an economics degree from Harvard University where he graduated with honours. He began his career as a consultant at what is now IBM Strategy and Analysis and before joining BlackRock in 2016 was a senior equity research analyst and portfolio manager, covering IT services and hardware, Emerging Markets (EM) banks, US real estate investment trusts, US property and casualty insurance and US retail, as well as being an EM and US small-cap generalist.