Alternative investment manager Castlestone Management, which manages around USD1bn in assets, has announced five new appointments to its UK sales f
Alternative investment manager Castlestone Management, which manages around USD1bn in assets, has announced five new appointments to its UK sales force following the launch of its first Ucits-compliant fund, the Dublin-domiciled Aliquot Active Commodity Index Fund.
Castlestone, which has been allocating to commodities since 2002, says it anticipates strong demand for the fund and its planned roll-out of Ucits-compliant products, and has made the sales appointments to create a strong team for the distribution of its products to retail investors.
Jerry Devlin, who becomes head of global sales, was formerly head of mutual fund sales for Baring Asset Management in the UK and Channel Islands. He has been working in the asset-management industry for 17 years, including positions at Collins Stewart and Aegon.
Business development advisor Joe Palmer will be working with Castlestone’s London-based UK sales team to promote UK investment sales, initially focusing on the London area. Business relationship director Joanna Wright will also be based in London, with responsibility for structuring and enhancing the firm’s relationships with key distributors and platforms.
Castlestone has also appointed two investment sales directors, with Michael Watt based in Glasgow and responsible for sales in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while Victoria Lockett, will be based in Birmingham, focusing on sales in the Midlands and the south-west UK.
The Aliquot Active Commodity Fund, which was listed on the Dublin stock exchange in June, is intended to offer actively-managed commodities exposure to investors. Through the use of investments such as exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded commodities, the fund aims to mirror as closely as possible the exposure of the offshore Aliquot Commodity Fund.
According to Castlestone, having the flexibility to change exposure to individual commodities allows the fund’s managers to manage risk and opportunity for investors far more effectively, by reducing exposure to overpriced assets while increasing weightings of those with greater potential to rise. "There are very few actively-managed commodity funds in existence, and the vast majority of those that are Ucits-compliant don’t have this flexibility," the firm says.
The fund, which is available to investors in continental Europe and the UK, will obtain exposure to the commodity markets through a range of financial instruments including actively-traded derivatives such as commodity index futures, options and swaps, as well as Ucits-eligible exchange-traded funds and commodities.
Castlestone Management offers a broad range of funds investing in assets including gold bullion, precious metals, commodity and stock indexes, currencies, hedge funds, property and art.
