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Muzinich & Co launches Global Tactical Credit Fund… Alternative UCITS gain 0.49 per cent in November…

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Alternative UCITS funds gained 0.49 per cent in November according to the UCITS Alternative Index Global managed by Geneva-based Alix Capital. That brings year-to-date returns to 3.71 per cent; a substantial improvement on the figure of 1.63 per cent recorded for the whole of 2012. With the exception of the UAI FX, which ended November down 0.19 per cent, all other UAI strategy benchmarks recorded positive gains.

The best performing strategies were CTA, Multi-Strategy and Long/Short Equity, gaining 1.44 per cent, 0.97 per cent and 0.85 per cent respectively. The UAI Long/Short Equity is by far the best performing strategy year-to-date, having gained an impressive 9.87 per cent (compared to just 2.70 per cent for the whole of 2012). The next best performers are the UAI Multi-Strategy and the UAI Event Driven, up 4.71 per cent and 3.61 per cent. By contrast, the UAI Commodities is down -3.62 per cent.
 
Muzinich & Co, the corporate credit specialist, this week announced the launch of a new fund. The Muzinich & Co Global Tactical Credit Fund seeks to find the best credit investment opportunities across global public fixed income markets. Mike McEachern is the fund’s lead manager. Assessment of relative value will be made across rating, duration and geographic spectrums, coupled with bottom-up analysis of investment grade and high yield corporate bonds and corporate loans.
 
Various portfolio hedging techniques will also be used to help reduce short-term volatility during periods of rising interest rates or spread widening. The fund aims to generate returns of Libor plus 5-7 per cent. The Ireland-domiciled UCITS fund is available in sterling, dollar and euro share classes.  
 
McEachern said: “The prospect of rising interest rates has prompted demand for nimble, multi-asset fixed income strategies as a complement to more traditional investments. We believe the Global Tactical Credit Fund can deliver meaningful long-term returns throughout a market cycle and crucially, we have the investment flexibility and hedging tools to provide a measure of portfolio protection as we navigate through a period of potentially rising interest rates.
 
“We can do this by moving in and out of global credit sectors, as well as up and down the credit quality and duration spectrum, as different fixed income assets move in and out of favour.”
 
Joshua Hughes, Muzinich & Co head of UK sales and marketing, added: “Demand for this type of strategy has been growing throughout the year and we believe multi-asset credit solutions will play an increasingly integral part in fixed income portfolios moving forward.”
 
SMT Fund Services (Ireland) Limited has appointed Kii Hub to produce and deliver Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs) for its established platform of UCITS funds.  This extends the relationship that already exists with SuMi TRUST Global Asset Services, as Kii Hub has been producing KIIDs for the funds managed by SuMi TRUST’s UK ACD company, SMT Fund Services (UK) Limited, since 2012. SuMi TRUST will be using Kii Hub’s full bureau service, which includes drafting, production, hosting and translation of all their KIIDs.

Peter Ward, who manages SMT Fund Services (Ireland) Limited’s Management Company Services commented: “While our UK ACD company has outsourced its KIIDs to Kii Hub from the beginning, we have been producing the documentation for our UCITS funds ourselves.  Given the quality of the Kii Hub documentation and their complete KIID solution, we have decided to extend our outsourcing arrangements with Kii Hub with immediate effect.”

Martin Jones, Head of Operations at Kii Hub, said: “Every time groups issue another set of KIIDs themselves, we hear of more who decide to outsource this activity.  It is testament to the quality of Kii Hub’s service that SuMi TRUST's ACD recommended us to their Irish counterparts for their KIIDs and both companies have chosen our full bureau service.”

London-based Kii Hub produces and distributes KIIDs for around 40 fund groups, including Aberdeen Asset Management, Jupiter, Ignis Asset Management, Martin Currie Investment Management, Baillie Gifford and Neptune Investment Management.
AGF Investments Inc. has announced the launch of a Dublin-based UCITS fund platform supported by its first seed investors and the opening of a representative office in London reported the Wall Street Journal. AGF Management Limited is one of Canada's premier independent investment management firms with over USD34billion in total AuM. Offered through AGF Global Investment Series Fund plc, AGF's two UCITS sub-funds, AGF Global Core Equity Fund and AGF Emerging Markets All Cap Equity Fund, will be available throughout a range of registered jurisdictions, under the authorization of the Central Bank of Ireland.

Assets in the AGF Global Core Equity Fund reportedly total USD65million whilst the AGF Emerging Markets All Cap Equity Fund has USD425million in assets.

Chris Boyle, Senior Vice-President, Institutional, AGF Investments Inc. was quoted as saying: “AGF's new UCITS fund family is a key piece of infrastructure that supports our global growth ambitions. These products are highly regulated, equally versatile, and will enable us to target the largest possible group of global investors."

"We are delighted to announce the successful launch of AGF's UCITS fund family which marks an important milestone in the expansion of AGF's global footprint," added Blake C Goldring, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AGF Management Limited. "Our new offerings, coupled with the opening of the London office, builds on AGF's long-standing history of investing globally."    

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