GAM has launched GAM Star Absolute EuroSystematic, an absolute return fund that uses the Ucits III framework to offer retail clients access to a st
GAM has launched GAM Star Absolute EuroSystematic, an absolute return fund that uses the Ucits III framework to offer retail clients access to a strategy involving long and short investments across European markets. The fund, managed by GAM investment director Ross Hollyman and his team, was first announced at the end of May.
GAM Star Absolute EuroSystematic is a daily-dealing European equity long/short fund that aims to provide upside market participation with limited downside volatility from a systematic investment approach. A Ucits III fund domiciled in Dublin, its base currency is euros and the minimum investment is GBP6,000, USD10,000, EUR10,000 or CHF13,000.
According to GAM, Hollyman has an excellent track record in the use of systematic techniques in portfolio management. His team screens around 3,000 European stocks with market capitalisations typically exceeding EUR450m according to three factors, value, earnings quality and momentum.
The results of this screening create a buy list for the long portfolio and a sell list for the short portfolio. Typically GAM Star Absolute EuroSystematic will hold between 100 and 150 of both long and short positions.
“Ross Hollyman and his team have extensive experience in alpha generation from identifying and managing long/short positions in their offshore funds,” says Martin Harrison, GAM’s head of mutual funds for the UK. “However, unlike an offshore hedge fund, GAM Star Absolute EuroSystematic has daily dealing and provides all the benefits associated with a regulated vehicle.”
Hollyman, who is responsible for UK and European equity mandates, heads a team of four specialists managing equity long-only and long/short strategies. Before joining GAM in 2003, he was a senior portfolio manager with JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, where he managed UK and European balanced and performance mandates.
GAM is an active investment management firm with a strong focus on alternative strategies, offering funds of hedge funds, single manager funds and managed portfolios to institutions, intermediaries, charities and private clients. Establishment by Gilbert de Botton in 1983 and now owned by Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer, GAM had assets under management of CHF68bn at the end of June.
