Merchant Capital Ltd (Merchant), the asset management division of Merchant House Group Plc, has launched the Russian Phoenix UCITS Fund on its independent UCITS umbrella platform. The fund officially launched on 2nd June 2011 with SGD40 million of assets under management.
The Russian Phoenix UCITS Fund replicates the strategy of an existing long/short product managed by Spectrum Partners Group, the Spectrum Russian Phoenix Fund, which has a two-year audited track record. The strategy follows a thematic investment approach with active stock-picking aiming to identify investment opportunities with a favourable risk/reward profile. It predominantly invests in large-cap equities actively traded in the markets of states of the Former Soviet Union (FSU).
By launching on the Merchant Capital platform the fund will benefit from being an onshore, regulated UCITS structure with weekly liquidity. The Russian Phoenix UCITS Fund is available to both institutional and retail investors in US dollar, euro, and sterling share classes with a minimum investment of 100,000 (USD, EUR, GBP) for institutions and 20,000 for the professional retail investor.
The fund is the first in a series of five proposed UCITS fund launches recently announced by Merchant Capital. The company expects all of these to begin trading before October 2011.
Commenting on the launch of the fund, George Cadbury (pictured), Director of Asset Management for Merchant, says: “The consistent growth of our UCITS platform is extremely exciting as we continue to look for compatible and innovative strategies with great track records. Spectrum is one such firm which we believe can successfully replicate its offshore product in an onshore regulated structure.”
Michael Kart, Managing Partner at Spectrum Partners, adds: “Merchant Capital was an obvious partner in our pursuit of an onshore version of our large-cap equity long/short hedge fund. They are able to bring funds to market much quicker than some of the larger platforms and have a good track record specifically with alternative products. We look forward to creating a long-lasting relationship with the firm.”
Merchant’s UCITS umbrella structure allows asset managers to launch UCITS-compliant investment vehicles, whereby Merchant will be responsible for ensuring that all UCITS rules are met with confidence. With Merchant’s recent acquisitions in both the Structured Product and Independent Financial Advisor sector, Merchant can also build clients such as Spectrum a comprehensive distribution plan.
