Boutique asset manager Unigestion has launched a long/short strategy, the second of two factor funds created in collaboration with its client Railpen, which were announced in January.
The first of the strategies, the long only “Equity Compass” strategy, which launched in December 2015, has attracted GBP50 million of assets and has returned 5 per cent in the first six months since launch, outperforming its benchmark by more than 3 per cent.
Following this success, the long /short “Alternative Equity Compass” strategy was launched mid-May 2016 and the strategy has already proven successful, having performed well during the days following the UK referendum results with a performance of +0.65 per cent from 24 June to the end of June 2016.
The long/short strategy is based on an “alternative risk premia” investment process and applies Unigestion’s unique 360 degree risk management approach that makes the implementation of risk premia exposures more robust and less risky. The long /short fund follows a pure alpha strategy aiming to profit from both positive and negative exposures to return drivers such as Value, Momentum, Quality and Size. Through the use of a sophisticated portfolio construction, the goal of the strategy is to provide investors with market neutral performance based on a risk-efficient long / short portfolio.
The strategy is also available in a UCITS daily liquid fund structure.
Alexei Jourovski (pictured), managing director, head of equities at Unigestion, says: “Our ability to co-create with clients and reach across our equities and alternatives teams, the latter being able to introduce expertly the shorting element of the strategy, means we can devise creative and innovative solutions underpinned, as all our strategies are, with our robust 360 degree risk management approach.
“We have had exceptional interest in our long only factor strategy from new and other existing investors who are eager to learn about how factors can be managed in their portfolios to deliver risk managed and diversified returns, and we are confident that the long/short version of the strategy will also be strongly received by the market.”
