Tranen Capital Alternative Investment Fund has listed class A shares on the Irish Stock Exchange.
The fund, a life markets fund that trades life insurance policies in the secondary market, is catering to investors seeking both asset diversification and non-correlated returns.
The fund, started in July 2008, is a domiciled British Virgin Islands mutual fund regulated by the Financial Services Commission.
The fund has been able to capitalise on the credit crisis by acquiring high quality policies at distress sale prices.
Tranen Capital, the investment manager of the fund, decided to list the fund on the Irish Stock Exchange in order to provide a more open and transparent structure for its investors.
Arthur L. Bowen, managing director for Tranen Capital, says: "Transparency is what the market needs, and a listing on the Irish Stock Exchange will help us achieve that goal."
The fund’s auditors, KPMG, will provide audited financial statements to its investors for every six-month period.
The fund’s strategy is to selectively buy high quality but unwanted or unneeded life insurance policies from seniors (65 or older), hold them through the two-year period and sell them to institutional purchasers such as banks, pension funds or hedge funds.
In the ten to 15 years of its existence, the life settlements market has grown from having aggregate invested assets of USD1bn dollar a year to a current marketplace with annual investments of well over USD16bn. As the so-called baby-boomer generation approaches and matures into retirement age, the market is poised to grow to well over USD160bn invested annually.
