Crédit Agricole tackles Dutch market with fund of funds

CA-AIPG is the wholly-owned alternative investment subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Asset Management and is Crédit Agricole’s specialist funds of hedge funds business.

Stéphane Detobel, Head of Crédit Agricole Asset Management’s Benelux office said Green Way Arbitrage is the first product from CA-AIPG that can be publicly distributed in the Netherlands.

The move follows the approval and registration of the fund of hedge funds for distribution by the Dutch regulatory authority, Autoriteit Financiële Markten.

In an interview  with HedgeWeek, Mr Detobel said: "This product will be distributed through selected partners; mainly private banks. We want our partners to fully understand the product and provide them with full transparency. This can only be achieved with a limited number".

He added: "With a volatility of 2.14 per cent and an annualised performance of 9.64 per cent since 1999, this fund, which is one of the very few fund of hedge funds registered for sale in the Netherlands, provides an excellent opportunity for investors."

Green Way Arbitrage is a Luxembourg-registered fund of hedge funds SICAV specialising in arbitrage strategies. It invests across selected low volatility strategies such as fixed income arbitrage, equity / risk arbitrage, index arbitrage and market neutral equities and is aimed at investors looking to make lower volatility investment into ‘alternatives’ in order to diversify their portfolios. Minimum investment is Euros 200,000.

Commenting on future plans for the Benelux region, Mr Detobel said: "We obviously have plans to launch new products in The Benelux and elsewhere in Europe but only by tailoring or packaging them following local demand and requirements. Green Way Arbitrage can also be sold in Luxembourg as it is a Luxembourg SICAV."

Background Note: Crédit Agricole Alternative Investment Products Group (CA-AIPG), a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Asset Management, is one of the leading global players in alternative investments with over 10 years’ experience and around Euros 3 billion under management in funds of hedge funds.

CA-AIPG operates out of four locations : Paris, London, Chicago and Tokyo. CA-AIPG’s clients include institutional investors, banks (for own account or third-party), and distributors.

Crédit Agricole Asset Management is the asset management company for the Crédit Agricole group.

It carries out investment management activities from seven centres: Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. At 30 September 2002 assets under management amounted to Euros 162.1 billion.

Crédit Agricole Asset Management’s customers include French and foreign institutional investors, and individual investors through the group’s network and through distribution agreements.

In addition to its development in France, Crédit Agricole Asset Management plans to continue with its international expansion by strengthening its existing network of subsidiaries and representative offices in Europe (Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Belgium), and in Japan, Asia and the US.

Crédit Agricole Asset Management has been assigned an "aa+" intrinsic rating by FITCH AMR for all its management operations, and has AIMR-PPS and GIPS certification.

Crédit Agricole Asset Management’s investment policy results from a general policy that favours active management, underpinned by rigorous investment processes that systematically include risk monitoring.