MANAGERS

20 October 2013: Long/short equity emerging market specialist Finisterre Capital this week announced the launch of a standalone UCITS-compliant fund in response to client demand stemming from Solvency II requirements. (Source HedgeWeek).

22 October 2013: Schroders has launched the Schroder GAIA Cat Bond on its UCITS platform.The new fund invests globally in catastrophe (cat) bonds (minimum 80 per cent) and other tradable insurance-linked securities (ILS). The fund’s exposure will be primarily in regions with a high concentration of insured wealth such as the US, Western Europe and Japan.

The fund will be managed by Daniel Ineichen, who has been manager of the NGAR Secquaero ILS Fund since inception in May 2011. (Source HedgeWeek).

3 October 2013: Amber Capital has launched Amber Equity Fund – a UCITS version of the Amber Italia Equity Fund – on the Alpha UCITS platform.

The Amber Equity Fund is managed by Amber Capital Italia SGR, a Milan based asset management company regulated by the Bank of Italy. The company was established by Joseph Oughourlian, founder of the Amber Capital Group, the investment firm founded in 2001 with main offices in London and New York.

The Amber Italia Equity fund, incorporated in Italy as an approved domestic fund almost four years ago, was already managed by Giorgio Martorelli, portfolio manager of Amber Capital Italia, according to rules very similar to those of a UCITS fund. (Source HedgeWeek).

30th September, 2013: The independent UCITS platform, MontLake announced the launch of the FVC Alternative Risk Premia UCITS Fund. Based in London, Future Value Capital is a quant macro specialist focused on Alternative Risk Premia. The fund which launched with 20m USD in seed capital will be the first addition to MontLake in the macro space.

Tom Sandell’s Castlerigg Merger Arbitrage UCITS fund was selected as the Best Performing Risk Arbitrage Fund for 2012. (Source Montlake).

29 September 2013: Schroders has launched the externally managed Schroder GAIA Avoca Credit fund on Schroder GAIA, the firm’s dedicated alternative UCITS platform. The fund is a fundamental credit long/short fund and is scheduled to launch in November 2013. Simon Thorp and James Sclater from Avoca Capital Management LLP will manage the fund. Avoca’s existing UCITS fund, the Avoca Credit Absolute Return fund will merge into Schroder GAIA Avoca Credit at launch. (Source Opalesque)

30 September 2013: Morgan Stanley announced a partnership with Longchamp Asset Management, a Frenchbased asset manager that specializes in the distribution of UCITS hedge funds, and La Française AM, a multi-specialist asset manager with a 10-year track record in alternative investments.

16 September 2013: Avoca Capital has launched a long-only convertible bond fund, Avoca Convertible Select Global, a UCITS compliant Luxembourg SICAV offering daily liquidity.

OPINION

Feedback from the ALfi Conference: The introduction of the AIFM Directive will help preserve the simplicity of UCITS according to the chief executive of Schroder Investment Management Ltd in London.

Massimo Tosato was quoted as saying that there had been much debate about the complexity of instruments in UCITS and talk about tightening up the eligibility of assets available to UCITS managers and believed “the AIFMD will lead to some of the more complex products being transferred from UCITS to AIFMs”. He added that the debate over whether regulators will force UCITS to be split into “complex” and “non-complex” was too simplistic: “A lot of strategies in UCITS may be complex and hard to understand but not risky to the end-investors,” Tosato was quoted as saying. (Source COO Connect-HedgeWeek)

TO READ

ALCEDA latest UCITS report published with Absolute Hedge.

ML industry barometer.

Cerulli latest report on Impact of development of Asia fund passeport on UCITS.

Hedge Fund analysis: Industry analysis Prequin Report HFR Quarterly report