Man Investments has announced plans to launch a second futures and options product authorised by the Hong Kong financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, with a guarantee
Man Investments has announced plans to launch a second futures and options product authorised by the Hong Kong financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, with a guarantee provided by HSBC.
The firm says Man AHL Guaranteed Futures 2 is being launched in response to strong demand from distributors in Hong Kong. It will allocate to the AHL Diversified Programme, which is managed by AHL, one of the core asset management divisions of Man Investments. AHL has a track record stretching back to 1983 and some USD18.8bn in assets under management at the end of last year.
AHL Diversified is a directional trading system that uses quantitative trading strategies to identify and take advantage of price trends and exploit market inefficiencies in more than 100 financial markets around the world.
The product provides downside protection in the form of a capital guarantee from HSBC that ensures investors will receive a minimum of 90 per cent of their initial investment when the product matures, plus a profit lock-in feature that offers the potential to increase the level of guarantee to 100 per cent. The minimum investment is USD5,000.
‘The AHL programme aims to generate profits in both rising and falling markets,’ says Tim Wong, its London-based head. ‘It has a low correlation to major asset classes, particularly stocks, and therefore provides a valuable diversification tool for investors that are keen to balance their portfolios.’
Says Giselle Lee, head of sales for Man Investments in Hong Kong: ‘The feedback we had from intermediaries on the first Man AHL Guaranteed Futures product launched last year has been very positive, and we are confident that the penetration of these kinds of investment product into the mass retail market in Hong Kong will continue to grow.’
Man Investments launched its first SFC-authorised futures fund, Man AHL Diversified Futures, in May 1998. At the end of April the fund had delivered a total return of 198.5 per cent, an annualised average return of 12.9 per cent.
Man Investments, the asset management division of the London-listed Man Group, has launched more than 450 products, many of them with leading financial institutions, since its establishment in 1983. The firm has four core alternative investment managers, AHL, Glenwood, Man Global Strategies and RMF, more than USD61bn in assets under management and more than 1,300 employees at its investment centres in London and Pfäffikon in Switzerland as well as offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, the Middle East, Montevideo, Nassau, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.
