Bramdean Asset Management has announced that its new alternatives fund, Bramdean Alternatives, has raised a total of GBP131m through a placing and offer for subscription.
Bramdean Asset Management has announced that its new alternatives fund, Bramdean Alternatives, has raised a total of GBP131m through a placing and offer for subscription. Dealings in the fund’s shares are set commence on the London Stock Exchange on July 9.
Cenkos Securities was corporate finance adviser and global bookrunner to Bramdean Alternatives, a Guernsey-domiciled closed-ended investment company incorporated on January 5, and Simmons & Simmons is its legal adviser.
The company’s board consists of five non-executive and independent directors: former 3i Group chief executive Brian Larcombe; Ceasar Anquillare, chairman and chief executive of private investment bank Winchester Capital; Peter Barton, a former corporate lawyer, head of European financial institutions at Lehman Brothers and chief operating officer for investment banking at Robert Fleming; former Allied Irish Bank chief executive Michael Buckley; and Nicholas Moss, a founding member of Virtus Trust in Guernsey.
Although the fund raising fell well short of its upper target of GBP250m, Bramdean chief executive Nicola Horlick says: ‘I am delighted with the success of the fund raising, which has very substantially exceeded the minimum expectation [GBP75m] despite difficult market conditions.’
‘We have received tremendous support, both from institutional and private investors, and believe this will mark a period of sustained interest in private equity and hedge funds. I am very proud of all the hard work that has been put in at Bramdean to launch the fund.’
Bramdean was established in 2004 by Horlick, who is chief executive, after high-profile spells as a managing director of Deutsche Bank-owned Morgan Grenfell Investment Management and as chief executive of SG Asset Management.
Bramdean Alternatives is a fund of funds that offers globally diversified investment in private equity, hedge funds and specialty asset classes, and is aimed at a retail investment market with a minimum investment of just GBP1,000.
The fund has already committed to various private equity and specialty funds, including Terra Firma Capital Partners III, Coller International Partners V, Thomas H. Lee Equity Fund VI and SVG Capital Strategic Recovery Fund II.
The portion of the fund allocated to hedge fund investment will be managed by the Nassau, Bahamas branch of RMF Investment Management, part of the listed UK hedge fund manager Man Group. Man is reported to have invested GBP25m in Bramdean Alternatives.
The fund is also available to investors via an offshore bond wrapper provided by Axa Isle of Man, whose managing director, Kevin Dean, says: ‘Interest in the new Bramdean fund has been extremely promising and a large number of our clients have indicated that they intend to invest at the earliest opportunity.
‘We expect demand for this fund to grow steadily. Bramdean has provided Axa with a unique addition to its range of funds at a time when investors are looking for diversification within their portfolios.’
