Liberty Ermitage is to close the current share classes of its Asset Selection fund to new investors.

From 1 April, 2005, new investors will only have the opportunity to subscribe for newly created additional share classes in the fund, incorporating a new liquidity structure. Existing investors however, will still be accommodated in the original share classes until further notice.

Commenting on the decision, CEO & CIO of Liberty Ermitage, Ian Cadby, said: "Over the last year the fund has experienced significant inflows of assets with current AUM standing around USD 750m. This fact, coupled with our commitment to honour the capacity requirements of existing investors has led us to review the Fund structure, specifically with regards to the liquidity profile, and we have decided that it is both necessary and prudent to limit the amount of capacity we can offer in the existing share classes. Naturally we want to reward existing investors by reserving this capacity for them."

The Liberty Ermitage Asset Selection Fund is a multi-strategy fund of funds, with a conservative return target of Libor plus 400bp to 600bp, together with an annualised volatility target of less than 3 per cent. It is constructed to have a low correlation to both the traditional equity and bond markets. Over the last six years, the fund has achieved its objectives, as the US Dollar A Class has an average return of 7.18 per cent on an annualised volatility of under 3 per cent.