Mackenzie Financial Corporation has created a mutual fund to give retail investors access to non-traditional and alternative asset classes.

The Mackenzie Diversified Alternatives Fund became available on Oct. 26, and gives Canadian investors an opportunity to hold a range of alternative asset classes such as real estate, infrastructure, emerging market debt, micro cap equities, high yield, foreign currencies, preferred shares, and commodities.

Mackenzie says it has designed the fund so that it will complement a traditional balanced portfolio of large cap developed market equities and investment grade bonds by increasing diversification and enhancing risk-adjusted returns. The fund has been given a "low to medium" risk rating, and the A series has a minimum initial deposit of $500 initial, with a $50 minimum for additional deposits made via pre-authorized chequing plans.

"Non-traditional asset classes offer investors an enhanced ability to meet both risk/return and diversification goals," says Allan Seychuk, senior investment director at Mackenzie Investments. "Unfortunately, individual investors have been at a significant disadvantage to large pension plans in this area. These asset classes are more challenging for investors to analyze and access and it is also harder to know how much of each asset to include in a portfolio. Mackenzie Investments addresses this challenge and provides advisors with a Fund that they can now recommend as a complement to a traditional balanced portfolio."