One thing he does insist on is that selections don’t focus too heavily on a particular stock or sector. The fund limits sector weightings to 20% of assets (unless the sector represents more than 20% of an index). With about 75 holdings, the fund owns fewer stocks than most of its international competitors. But there are no big individual stock bets, and the top 10 holdings usually account for only 20% to 35% of assets. The fund’s annual stock turnover is 75%, which is about average for its peer group.

While regional allocations vary, depending on market conditions and outlook, the fund usually allocates between 50% and 60% of its assets to Europe, 15% to 20% to Japan, 10% to 15% to Asia (outside Japan) and 2% to 5% to Latin America. Another 4% to 10% goes into “global growth,” a catchall category for growth companies around the world. What’s unused goes to cash.

Because Europe is such a large part of the portfolio, the region is divided into two parts overseen by different managers. Europe 1, which Peak covers, focuses on growth-at-a reasonable-price stocks and turnaround situations of any size. Europe 2, handled by Tim Stevenson, zeros in on mid-cap and large-cap companies with above-average prospects for earnings growth and higher valuations.

The mix among turnaround value companies and those with better growth prospects can vary, depending on market conditions. In 2014, for example, a conviction that the economy appeared to be bottoming out and that a recovery was on the horizon led the fund to overweight Peak’s side of Europe, which contained a number of companies with reasonable valuations that the market had misjudged and that stood to benefit from more favorable market conditions.

The Henderson fund’s holdings include Nokia, which it first acquired in late 2013. The Finnish telecommunications company’s announcement of intentions to acquire France’s Alcatel-Lucent has been met with skepticism by investors, who believe the combination would be a repeat of the ill-fated and unsuccessful merger of Alcatel and Lucent in 2006.

But Peak believes the combination will be successful for a number of reasons. While it was unclear which company would take charge after the Alcatel/Lucent merger, Nokia’s position as the acquirer makes it the choice for leadership. The combination will also improve the new entity’s pricing power and expand its footprint in the region.

Another contrarian pick of the Henderson fund was BG Group, the U.K.-based oil and gas company that became part of the portfolio in early 2015 as it was being acquired by Royal Dutch Shell. In exchange for its BG shares, the fund will now receive a mix of Shell’s shares and cash. Peak believes the acquisition will benefit Shell by lowering its costs and expanding its natural gas operations.

Moreover, the fund purchased the BG shares at a discount of about 9% to their value at acquisition (slated to occur in early 2016). Peak says he intends to hold on to the acquirer’s shares after the takeover. “The Shell shares yield about 8%, and I don’t think the company will cut its dividend in 2016,” he says. “I’m not trying to call oil prices, but given the risk/reward profile of BG, I feel this is a decent case for contrarian exposure.”

On the growth side of the Europe sleeve the fund holds French company Essilor, a leading global provider of corrective lenses. The company operates in 54 countries and boasts a suite of headline lens brands such as Varilux and Crizal. It also develops and sells equipment for prescription laboratories, as well as instruments and services for optical professionals. “With an aging population, Essilor has broad demographic support and the ability to gradually grow market share over time,” Peak says. “Its medium and long-term future seems pretty well assured.”

Holdings in the Asia/Pacific sleeve of the portfolio include Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Property Holdings, a large property developer in Hong Kong with a strong presence in mainland China. The fund picked up the stock about a year ago after a currency devaluation in China heightened investors’ concerns about property values there. “Shares are trading at about half the asset value of the company, so this presents an interesting opportunity,” Peak says. “I think investor unease will dissipate and the discount will narrow, so there should be some decent upside.”

His fund’s Japanese holdings include Denso, a leading supplier of advanced automotive technology, systems and components for major automakers. Peak believes the company will be a major beneficiary of the increasing use of collision avoidance systems and other technology to enhance automotive safety.

“Automotive technology used to be things like headlight bulbs,” he says. “Now this is more like a quasi-technology company, and the business is more profitable than it was five or 10 years ago.”

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