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The Barometer is designed to help identify and anticipate key trends in the demand for the major strategies within the Alternative UCITS sector.

The capital introductory team at ML Capital surveyed a diverse range of 60 investors who collectively manage almost $95 billion and today invest upwards of $30 billion into Alternative UCITS, reflecting the widening of the investor base for regulated alternative products in Europe. Respondents range from insurance and pension funds to private banking organisations, with a significant constituent of financial advisers that deal with the primary source of Alternative UCITS inflows, the mid-net-worth investor.

Major Findings;

• Sharp Rise in Interest for Multi-Strategy Funds - The most dramatic result by far this quarter is for Multi-Strategy funds, which show an almost five fold rise in the levels of demand over last quarters result. There has been a large spike in the level of allocators to Alternative UCITS planning to increase the size of their Multi-Strategy holdings this quarter. Almost half of our respondents (47%) are looking to allocate to the space, with a cautious eye on the relatively high priced equity and bond markets.
• Bullish views on both US and Global Long Short Funds - Highest level of interest for US Long Short strategies since the inception of the Alternative UCITS Barometer. Following a drop in interest towards the tail end of 2013, sentiment towards the US Long Short space has somewhat changed and interest has rallied going into Q3. Furthermore, whilst UK Long Short slides out of favour, 51% of respondents plan to increase exposures to Global Long Short Funds.
• Healthy Upswing towards Emerging Markets - There is a healthy move back towards the Emerging Markets shown this quarter. Our research has highlighted that there is emphatic support for Globally diversified funds (39%) as opposed to the more targeted regional products.

Report available here
PD