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Milltrust to begin inviting frontier and emerging markets managers onto its EMMA UCITS platform… UAI Global gains 0.51 per cent in August…

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Alceda Fund Management SA has teamed up with APN Property Group (“APN”), a specialist Asia Pacific real estate investment manager to redomicile a former Cayman fund to a Luxembourg SICAV Specialised Investment Fund (SIF).

The fund strategy invests in a diversified portfolio of Asia Pacific listed equities, with a key focus on real estate investment trusts (‘REITs’), with a limited allocation to infrastructure securities. The aim is to deliver higher income and lower volatility than can be achieved by investing directly in REITs. Targeted at both the institutional and high net worth markets, the income leaning fund aims to provide a high level of semi-annual cash distributions.
 
Established in 1996, APN has a proven track record of actively managing real estate investment funds. APN currently manages over USD2bn of real estate and real estate securities globally, with offices in Melbourne (Head Office) and Singapore.
 
Manish Bhargava, Head of Asia and Fund Manager, APN Property Group, said: “Asian REITs are delivering sound investment credentials, further bolstered by supportive market dynamics. The Asian REIT markets are outperforming Europe and North America, with Asia widely recognised as a growth engine on the world stage by economic commentators. The region's growth prospects are underpinned by unique demographic trends including rapid population growth and a burgeoning middle class.
 
“With over a decade of strong growth, Asian REITs continue to deliver solid returns and we expect to see Asia Pacific’s share of the global real estate market almost double by 2031. Our Asian Asset Income Fund will offer a higher level of income with lower volatility and provides an ideal avenue for investors to access some of the highest quality, professionally managed commercial real estate across the mature markets of Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. We believe investors will be well served by considering this asset class in more detail.”
 
Michael Sanders, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Alceda Fund Management SA commented: “We are delighted that APN chose to partner with us for the fund redomiciliation. Given our local presence, established international network, and strong experience in structuring funds, we are ideally placed to support APN in extending their investor base.”
 
The UAI Global index gained 0.51 per cent in August and is now up 1.12 per cent since the beginning of year according to Alix Capital. The best performing strategy last month was UAI CTA, up 2.56 per cent. This was followed by FX and Emerging Markets, up 0.79 per cent and 0.72 per cent respectively.
 
Despite a muted year last year, CTAs have started to recapture their form in 2014. The UAI CTA is now the best performing strategy tracked by Alix Capital with the average CTA up +3.98 per cent through August. Emerging Markets and Multi-Strategy funds up the next best performers, up 2.14 per cent and 1.92 per cent. On the negative side Commodities funds returned the worst results for the month, down -0.37 per cent. They are also the worst performing funds on average for the year with losses of -1.45 per cent. Funds of funds advance by 0.10 per cent in August and are up 0.38 per cent since the beginning of the year.
 
Long-term UCITS funds attracted EUR152bn in the second quarter of 2014; their largest quarterly net inflows since Q1 2006 according to the latest figures released by EFAMA. The figures are up slightly on EUR132bn of net inflows into long-term UCITS in Q1 2014. Part of this was the rotation by investors into balanced funds, whose net inflows increased to EUR53bn from EUR45bn in Q1.
 
Demand for bond funds tailed off slightly to EUR56bn from EUR61bn in Q1, whilst equity funds also recorded a slight reduction in net inflows to EUR24bn from EUR27bn.
 
According to EFAMA’s figures, UCITS net sales remained strong: they totaled EUR130bn, compared to EUR152bn in the first quarter of the year, which EFAMA attributes to net inflows from money market funds. Nevertheless, that aggregate figure (rounded up to EUR283bn) is a significant improvement on the first half of 2013, where net inflows totaled EUR144bn. 
 
Milltrust International Group has begun to invite Frontier and Emerging Markets fund managers onto its Ireland-domiciled EMMA (Emerging Markets Managed Accounts) UCITS Platform
 
“The EMMA UCITS Platform is the first platform of its kind to focus on Frontier and Emerging markets strategies, and already features a range of some of the world's leading regional asset managers from the emerging markets including BTG Pactual, Itaú, Value Partners, UTI and Lion Global Investors,” said Alexander Kalis, Managing Partner & Investment Director at Milltrust International LLP.
 
Eric Anderson, Managing Partner at Milltrust International LLP – the Group’s London-based subsidiary – said that the platform was in a perfect position to welcome global investment managers “who are looking for a quick and cost-effective platform from which to launch their UCITS regulated funds with full passporting distribution rights”. Milltrust acts as the platform advisor and promoter to any newly launched EMMA UCITS fund and post-launch has the responsibility to monitor all investments, enforce compliance, and report both to the Board of Directors and to the Central Bank of Ireland.    
 
“Contrary to most other platforms that take full exclusivity for controlling distribution, branding and marketing which can act to the detriment of the investment manager, the EMMA UCITS Platform offers investment managers a simple and attractive infrastructure solution that is designed to appeal to both large and established Frontier/EM groups that have their own distribution and marketing capabilities, and to growing managers looking to minimise costs,” added Simon Hopkins, CEO at Milltrust International Group. 

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