Industry Updates

Merrion Investment Managers hires specialist team, launches UCITS European L/S equity fund

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

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Opalesque Industry Update - Dublin-based Merrion Investment Managers has recruited a specialist long short equity team, comprised of Michael Nicol and Alistair MacDonald, to manage a new UCITS III European Absolute Return Fund.

The new fund combines the expertise of an experienced team with the stability of Merrion’s established UCITS platform. The fund is targeting an absolute return of 15% to 20% per annum with annualised volatility between 7.5% and 10%. It has been launched with US$20 million of initial investment.

Michael Nicol and Alistair MacDonald have accumulated over fifty years of investment experience. Their approach is to detect mis-priced company securities through company analysis that focuses on understanding companies’ business models, earnings drivers and risks. Stock timing decisions are made by identifying valuation anomalies and catalysts that are likely to lead to re-rating or de-rating. At the heart of the investment process is a strong understanding of the nature of risk and a proprietary correlation analysis model that guides portfolio construction.

During the past 10 years, portfolios managed by Michael Nicol have not produced any negative annual returns and he has successfully applied the strategy to manage a fund of over € 600 million.

Kevin Gallacher, Director, Merrion Investment Managers, comments: “The Merrion European Absolute Return Fund is designed to provide investors with the absolute return characteristics of a hedge fund plus the transparency and daily liquidity of a regulated UCITS product. It enables investors to access the proven stock-picking skills of an experienced long short equity team on a tried and tested administrative platform. ” Michael Nicol, fund manager, Merrion Investment Managers, says:

“During the last ten years, global equity markets have entered a more volatile and less certain environment for returns. Our investment process has delivered consistent positive absolute returns with low volatility in both rising and falling markets. Perhaps most importantly, it operates with low levels of leverage and does not need to be adapted or compromised to comply with UCITS regulations.”

www.merrion-absolute.com.

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