Morgan Stanley launches Brazil equity l/s market neutral UCITS

Morgan Stanley this week announced the launch of its latest UCITS fund on the bank’s FundLogic Alternatives Plc platform in tandem with Claritas Administração de Recursos Ltda, (Claritas), a fund manager running approximately USD1.87billion of assets. The MS Claritas Long Short Market Neutral UCITS Fund will give investors access to a Brazilian equity l/s market neutral strategy, one of the first such UCITS operating in this space. To maintain its market neutral weighting the portfolio will have a maximum net long exposure of +20 per cent and net short exposure of -20 per cent. The fund will invest in all sectors of Brazil’s equity market. David Armstrong, Managing Director and Global Head of Fund-Linked business at Morgan Stanley said they were proud to be partnering up with one of the pioneers of Brazil’s alternatives industry to launch the first absolute return newcits solely focused on Brazil’s equity market. “Claritas’ highly experienced investment team, led by Helder Soares (pictured), will provide investors with a diversified representation of the many alpha extraction opportunities in the Brazilian equity market within the UCITS framework,” said Armstrong. Soares, portfolio manager and CIO of equity funds at Claritas, commented: “We believe our focus on constructing a market neutral portfolio, using fundamental research on individual securities as well as liquidity and risk vs. return projections, fits perfectly with the UCITS investors’ philosophy.”