IOOF has amended the structure of its multi-manager offering to allow retail investors to take out units in the product directly without the need of using a platform as a point of entry.
To facilitate the initiative the manager has transitioned funds out of its existing Multi Investment Manager Fund into the new Multimix Trust.
Under the new structure investors can buy units in the IOOF trust directly for a minimum amount of $25,000 instead of having to go through a platform administrator to do so.
However, the Multimix Trust will still be listed on platform menus if investors still chose to use that avenue of access.
"The real benefit for us is to try to increase our penetration and try to market these funds to the self managed super space," IOOF general manager investor solutions Renato Mota said.
"The new structure will also improve the service levels so it will improve unit pricing and distributions, and that's been an area where we've been looking for efficiencies over the last few years.
"These efficiencies will lead to some cost reductions and we're passing all of these back to the investor through reduced transaction costs."
The Multimix Trusts were launched yesterday and are available to investors immediately.
While the move required a transfer of funds from one structure into another Mota said there were no real capital gains tax issues for IOOF's existing clients to manage.
"We've just completed the communication process with our clients and advisers ... As it turned out most clients had a tax loss position or a break even position given the markets' downturn over the last few months so it hasn't been a big issue," he said.
