RCM, Allianz’s equity fund management unit, is launching two new hedge fund products aimed at increasing its assets under management in the sector by more than 50 percent, its Chief Investment Officer said. Andreas Utermann told Reuters that RCM will launch, in the next few weeks, a new Luxembourg-domiciled cross-border UCITS equity fund, and will launch a new vehicle which invests across its existing long-short funds within the next two quarters.
Highlights :
- Eyes $100 million from two funds
- Targets family offices, private wealth managers
- Plans new market neutral strategies
He said RCM found that clients — including family offices and private wealth managers — were happier with a Luxembourg UCITS structure than with Cayman Islands-based funds.
RCM has “less than $200 million” under management in hedge fund products, Utermann said. RCM is hoping to raise at least $100 million through the new propositions.
RCM only started marketing its hedge funds products last year but the credit crisis froze markets and triggered a flight to low-risk products such as government bonds.
There was no “significant time pressure” to deliver the new asset flows, he said.
The company already runs three long-short strategies — a balance of traditional bets on stocks rising and bets that prices will fall. It is also considering adding a couple of market neutral strategies, which involve selecting stocks to keep the portfolio buffered from severe market swings.
Utermann said the new launches were “a strategic move,” that did not herald a step change in its hedge funds business.
“It is opportunistic and client-centric. We have said we will only launch long-short strategies if we have demonstrable alpha streams and these have to be directly connected with what we already do,” he said.
With Reuters
