New York-based Asset Alliance has announced the launch of an SEC-registered managed futures fund of funds, the BTOP50 Managed Futures Fund, based on the industry benchmark Barclay CTA Inde
New York-based Asset Alliance has announced the launch of an SEC-registered managed futures fund of funds, the BTOP50 Managed Futures Fund, based on the industry benchmark Barclay CTA Index.
The fund, which will initially allocate to 23 well-established commodity trading advisor programmes, and is designed to provide investors with access to a diversified and non-correlating group of managed futures strategies. Leading CTA managers that are expected to be in the fund include Kaiser, Winton Capital Management, Armajaro and FX Concepts.
‘Managed futures provide diversification and an attractive, uncorrelated return stream in a well diversified portfolio,’ says Asset Alliance president and chief executive Bruce Lipnick. ‘This vehicle fills a gap in investors’ portfolios and makes an institutional-grade product available in an affordable and flexible format for retail markets.’
Asset Alliance says the fund is the first of a group of products that will be marketed worldwide to qualified investors through broker dealers, private banks, wealth managers, investment advisers and independent financial intermediaries. The firm says it has simplified the marketing process via a method to process subscriptions electronically.
The introduction of the electronically transacted managed futures fund is believed by Asset Alliance to be the first of its kind, and it says the BTOP50 vehicle should also be popular with institutional investors who can allocate to a diversified pool of leading CTAs in a cost-effective and transparent format.
‘Asset Alliance has built an optimal way for investors to get exposure to many hard to access strategies and funds,’ said Sol Waksman, president of Barclay Research Group.
A team of 21 employees at Asset Alliance, led by Thomas Broadbent, Garry Collins and Elliot Noma, is overseeing the BTOP50 fund’s activities, including active risk management, ongoing manager monitoring and selection, sales and marketing, and support to intermediary channels.
Barclay Research Group is a leading provider of CTA performance data and managed futures analytics. Established in 1986, the Barclay CTA Index represents more than 85 per cent of the total assets in global managed futures as measured by Barclay’s universe of managed futures programmes.
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in New York, Asset Alliance is a privately owned company that assists and invests in diversified alternative asset management firms, and provides specialised alternative investment products and services to institutions and high net worth individuals. London-based Asset Alliance International carries out manager research, joint ventures and the development and distribution of products throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
