Merchant Capital, a provider of a Ucits III umbrella for hedge fund managers, has launched its Ucits strategy assessment/feasibility evaluation service, which helps managers to ascertain whether their strategies will translate efficiently into a Ucits structure.

Merchant Capital is supported by Carne Global Financial Services and Kinetic Partners in the execution of the system.

Merchant Capital and Carne Global undertake the role of assessing a fund’s invested underlying instruments, exposure and positioning, while Kinetic Partners carries out the appropriate value-at-risk analysis.
 
George Cadbury, director of funds at Merchant Capital, says: "With many alternative investment managers from around the world now exploring the Ucits market, assessing at an early stage whether their funds’ strategies fit comfortably within the Ucits rules is the most important initial step for them. Often managers are given conflicting advice with regards to their strategy’s compatibility. With Ucits-Safe, we offer an unambiguous, thorough and cost-effective process by which managers can decide on the viability of moving into Ucits.”
 
Christian Szylar, a member of Kinetic Partners, adds: “Merchant's initiative is an effective solution and particularly appropriate for the current regulatory environment. It will allow asset managers to assess their project within Ucits, the main requirement of which is to comply with global exposure under the VaR approach. A test VaR report will confirm a strategy’s viability.”