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Martin Currie to buy Sofaer Capital’s European long/short equity business

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Martin Currie Investment Management has agreed to acquire the Sofaer Capital European long/short equity business.

Sofaer Capital currently manages approximately USD280m of assets, of which USD140m is the Sofaer Capital European Hedge Fund and USD140m two separate accounts.

It is expected that the two principals who manage this fund, Michael Browne and Steve Frost, will join Martin Currie on 1 July 2010. Charlotte Dagg, the investment analyst working on the fund, is expected to join later in the year.

It is expected that the Sofaer Capital European Hedge Fund will be managed by Martin Currie with effect from 1 July 2010.

The fund has delivered an annualised return of 8.0 per cent, compared with the MSCI Europe benchmark’s -0.6 per cent, and has protected clients investments well during the downturn with an annualised Sharpe ratio of 0.67.

David Helm, chief executive of Sofaer Global Research (UK), says: “We have been giving consideration to the scaling down of our operations from the UK for some time and this transaction effectively delivers that. Furthermore, the sale of the Sofaer European Hedge Fund to Martin Currie also delivers continuity for our investors which we feel is very important. We are therefore very pleased with this transaction.”

Willie Watt (pictured), chief executive of Martin Currie, says: “We have a strong and vibrant business with a culture that has proven to be very attractive to our employees. Our independence and employee-owned model have also proven exceptionally valuable to our clients as we have continued our programme of investment in our business through the turmoil of the financial crisis. We view the market dislocation as an opportunity to attract the world’s best talent. This acquisition enables us to further strengthen our expertise in European equities, fill an obvious gap in our long/short equity business and add substantial assets under management to our hedge-fund business.”

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