Investment firm Dalton Strategic Partnership is launching the MST European Fund on 1 February 2010 as a sub-fund of the Melchior Selected Trust, a Luxembourg Sicav.
The fund will aim to deliver positive absolute returns, uncorrelated to equity or bond markets.
Managed by Leonard Charlton, a former portfolio manager at GLG and trader at Goldman Sachs, the fund will follow the same investment approach as his current hedge fund, the Melchior European Fund.
Launched in October 2006, the Melchior European Fund achieved a positive return of 8.01 per cent in 2007, 6.26 per cent in 2008 and 4.29 per cent in 2009.
The MST European Fund marks the first time the long/short investment capabilities of Charlton will be available to investors in a regulated product. The fund will use the full Ucits III powers including leverage and derivatives to replicate the strategy employed by the Melchior European Fund.
Magnus Spence (pictured), partner at DSP, says: “We believe that the time is right to launch a Ucits-compliant version of the Melchior European Fund. The MST European Fund is an ideal vehicle for those investors looking to invest in a European equity long/short fund via a regulated product, which draws on Leonard’s hedge fund management experience. The new fund will implement the same strategy as the existing hedge fund which Leonard has managed so successfully over the last three years. We do not envisage any changes to the strategy arising from the Ucits structure.”
The fund combines a fundamental approach to selecting long and short positions, with an active trading overlay. It will comprise 30 to 60 positions, normally in individual European stocks and will typically operate within a net exposure range of +/- 20 per cent. Gross exposure will normally be between 80 per cent and 150 per cent.
Minimum investment is USD10,000 for retail investors in A and C share classes, and USD250,000 for institutional investors in B and D share classes.
