AGacquisitions, a middle market investment bank and asset manager, is increasing its presence in the alternative investment business with the launch of a new hedge fund platform, Index Advantage – II (IA-II).

AGacquisitions Markets, a subsidiary of AGacquisitions India and TechTrend Analyser, a provider of technical products and solutions for alternate investing, have merged to jointly tap the growing market for alternative investments.

The two companies have been working together for a number of years with their first product, Index Advantage - I (IA-I) having delivered annualised returns of over 60 per cent. IA-I focused extensively on the S&P Nifty Index and employed a proprietary platform, which has been able to provide above average returns across trending bull and bear market conditions and nominal returns during market consolidation. This stems from the ability to take uni-directional calls on the S&P Nifty Index using the futures derivative.

The investment methodology relies on a number of well established open source indicators such as the CBOE VIX, India VIX, Parabolic SAR and dollar index. The IP developed is patent pending.

The combined entities will focus on building the platform of products and extending services to global markets like Singapore and the US in due course.

“IA-I was launched as a test bed with investors mainly being family and friends. We now look to launch IA-II with the aim of increasing our assets from USD4m to USD30m in the coming years. AGacquisitions’ global reach and TechTrends’ expertise will open a new dimension of unique investment methodology to global investors, family offices and hedge funds,” says Mehul Daga, founder of TechTrend Analyser, who will now take the responsibility at AGacquisitions as director – technical.

“We are excited to work with Mehul and his team, who over the years have demonstrated in-depth technical capabilities, which resulted in superior and consistent returns to investors. We will leverage our platforms to grow the business and deliver cutting edge products and services,” says Harsh Agarwal, director and co-founder of AGacquisitions India.

AGacquisitions plans to register with the SEBI as a hedge fund under the AIF category.