Thu, Apr 18, 2024
A A A
Welcome Guest
Free Trial RSS pod
Get FREE trial access to our award winning publications
Industry Updates

Morgan Stanley to launch a new UCITS Fund that offers exposure to Mesirow Financial's Absolute Return Plus Strategy

Monday, February 25, 2013
Opalesque Industry Update: Morgan Stanley today announced the launch of a new fund, the MS Discretionary Plus UCITS Fund, under its FundLogic Alternatives plc umbrella. The fund, which provides exposure to the Mesirow Absolute Return Plus Strategy, is the last in a series of four CTA strategies to be made available in a UCITS format through Morgan Stanley’s partnership with Equinox Fund Management LLC, a U.S.-based multi-manager, specializing in constructing portfolios of multiple Commodity Trading Advisor programs.

This latest addition diversifies Morgan Stanley’s offering of CTA strategies, which currently comprises of a fully transparent and systematic strategy providing exposure to the broad class of managed futures, a short to medium-term pattern recognition program and a long-term trend following program.

“We are proud to provide UCITS investors with access to the Mesirow Absolute Return Plus Strategy, established by Tom C. Willis, an acknowledged market leader in the industry with over 30 years trading experience”, said Alvise Munari, Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Derivatives, Sales and Financial Engineering at Morgan Stanley.

He added: “Mesirow Financial, which has over $65bn of assets under management for all asset classes, has a deep expertise in commodity markets, which has allowed them to deliver innovative solutions for clients worldwide. The Strategy has a large emphasis on commodities, aiming to have a minimum of 75% commodities exposure. It identifies two to three macro themes that are played through futures contracts whilst limiting the amount at risk per trade. This allows consistent returns to be generated, with low volatility in various market environments, with the aim of generating returns in both rising and falling markets.”

Michel Serieyssol, Managing Director at Equinox, commented: “We are delighted by the fourth successful UCITS launch with our partner, Morgan Stanley. Mesirow is a terrific addition to the FundLogic Alternatives Platform, providing investors with a strong diversification tool in Mesirow’s commodity-focused macro approach. Overall, we could not be any happier with the quality and breadth of the CTA offerings we have brought to the market with Morgan Stanley.”

Aaron Ochstein of Mesirow commented: “Morgan Stanley is a market leader in the UCITS Alternatives space, with one of the fastest growing platforms, high-end risk management and operational expertise. We are delighted by this opportunity to partner with both Morgan Stanley and Equinox, in providing access to the Mesirow Absolute Return Plus Strategy to UCITS investors.”

Tom Willis, Senior Strategist and Portfolio Manager of the Mesirow Absolute Plus Strategy said: “As Portfolio Manager, I am excited about the launch of the MS Discretionary Plus Fund, which we believe offers UCITS investors an opportunity to benefit from a strong macro-focused diversification approach. The strength of our Strategy is our seasoned investment team, our disciplined risk management process with an emphasis on capital preservation, combined with a targeted high percentage of profitable trades, on a high win/loss ratio. The Strategy seeks to avoid portfolio concentration on multiple levels, including price, concentration, time, and trade structure, ensuring a strong strategy all around.”

Morgan Stanley

Press Release

BM

What do you think?

   Use "anonymous" as my name    |   Alert me via email on new comments   |   
Previous Opalesque Exclusives                                  
Previous Other Voices                                               
Access Alternative Market Briefing

 



  • Top Forwarded
  • Top Tracked
  • Top Searched
  1. KKR raises $6.4bn for the largest pan-Asia infrastructure fund[more]

    Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The New York-based global investment firm KKR has raised a record $6.4bn for its second Asia-focused infrastructure fund, underlining investors' continued appetite for private markets. According to a media release from the alternative assets manager, the figure top

  2. Bucking the trend, top hedge fund makes plans for a second SPAC[more]

    From Institutional Investor: SPACs aren't dead. At least not to the folks at Cormorant Asset Management. The life sciences firm, whose hedge fund topped its peers in 2023, is confident it will match the success of its first blank-check company. Last week, the life sciences and biopharma speciali

  3. Benefit Street Partners closes fifth fund on $4.7 billion[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Benefit Street Partners has closed its fifth flagship direct lending vehicle, BSP Debt Fund V, with $4.7 billion of investable capital across the strategy. Benefit Street invests primarily in privately originated, floating rate, senior secured loans. The fun

  4. 4 hedge fund themes that are working in 2024[more]

    From The Street: A poor earnings report from Tesla (TSLA) has not hurt the indexes on Thursday. The decline in Tesla stock, which is losing its position in the Magnificent Seven pantheon, is more than offset by strong earnings from IBM (IBM) and ServiceNow (NOW) . In addition, the much higher-t

  5. Opalesque Exclusive: A global macro fund eyes opportunities in bonds[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York for New Managers: Munich-based ThirdYear Capital rebounded in 2023, following a tough year for global macro. The firm's flagship ART Global Macro strategy finished the year up 1