Weekly UCITS News (Friday)

Lyxor Asset Management has launched the Lyxor/Tiedemann Arbitrage Strategy Fund, a new UCITS-compliant vehicle designed to give access to a pure merger arbitrage strategy in partnership with the hedge fund firm TIG Advisors. »

After launching the Ashburton Africa Equity Opportunities fund last month, Jersey-based asset management firm Ashburton has rolled out its second UCITS fund reported Citywire Global this week. The Luxembourg-domiciled Ashburton Global New Energy fund will be managed by Richard Robinson, with Alan le Maistre acting as deputy manager. The fund will target long-term growth opportunities in companies operating in oil, gas, coal and renewable energy sources. Three quarters of its assets will be invested in listed companies with up to 10 per cent being allocated to unlisted companies. The fund is benchmarked against the MSCI Energy index.  »

The UCITS Alternative Index Global gained 0.53 per cent in May, putting it at +2.34 per cent for the year. The UCITS Alternative Index Funds of Funds enjoyed a fifth consecutive month of positive returns with a 0.65 per cent performance, up 2.25 per cent for the year. »

UCITS funds continue to be one of the most popular forms of foreign-domiciled funds in Asia Pacific according to an article written 30 May 2013 by Sanjay Jayant, Global Head of Product Solutions – Fund Services, HSBC Securities Services. Their popularity, says Jayant, is principally down to the level of protection their give investors and, if they are domiciled in Luxembourg or Ireland – as many UCITS funds are – certain tax advantages. »

Ashburton has launched the Africa Equity Opportunities Fund with a strategy focused on targeting undervalued listed African equities (ex-South Africa) across various sectors to achieve long-term capital growth. »

London remains Europe’s leading hedge fund capital, helped by the proliferation of UCITS-compliant hedge funds according to a new report by TheCityUK. The primary driver for this is the fact that such fund vehicles will escape being regulated by the upcoming Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive; which is, in essence, UCITS-equivalent regulation applied to the alternative fund space. According to the report, »

Rasini Fairway Capital has redomiciled its Stafford SICAV – Global Equity Fund to Luxembourg in a UCITS regulated format using the Alceda UCITS Platform (AUP). »

With less than three months to go until new legislation ushers in major changes for the European hedge fund industry, a new report reveals that the continent’s share of the global market has remained surprisingly stable at just over a fifth. »

RIMES, a leader in managed data services, has flagged the challenges presented by the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) consolidated guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues to investment managers throughout Europe.   »

Both the number of Alternative UCITS funds and assets under management grew in the first quarter of 2013 according to the Alceda Quarterly UCITS Review, produced by leading independent structuring specialist Alceda Fund Management S.A.  »