American Century Investments has expanded its liquid alternatives offering with the launch of the AC Alternatives Long Short Fund, the second multi-manager fund to be launched under the firm's AC Alternatives brand.
The new fund uses an open architecture subadvisor approach to access experienced, specialised managers who employ differentiated approaches to long/short equity investing. Long/short equity strategies seek to take long positions (buys) in undervalued equities and short overvalued positions in equities issued by companies across all market cap and geographies.
"The addition of AC Alternatives Long Short to our suite of liquid alternatives solutions reflects our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our clients," says Cleo Chang, senior vice president and head of alternative investments for American Century. "We believe long/short strategies can play an important role in a diversified portfolio by providing the potential for more consistent returns over a full market cycle, while striving to reduce volatility."
American Century has engaged Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management LP (Perella Weinberg), a leading global institutional asset manager, to provide investment management advisory services and to identify and recommend other underlying subadvisors with expertise in specific strategies. Those subadvisors include Passport Capital, Sirios Capital Management, Three Bridges Capital and CMIA Seligman. Perella Weinberg will supplement those strategies with its own tactical and opportunistic adjustments to the portfolio or "overlay"1 in an attempt to either reduce risk or increase exposure to certain asset classes expected to benefit from certain market conditions. Perella Weinberg also serves as subadvisor on the AC Alternatives® Income fund, which launched last July.
AC Alternatives Long Short has been managing seed capital since October 15, 2015 and will have a performance track record that begins as of October 30, 2015, its official inception date. The fund is available in Investor (ALEVX), Institutional (ALEJX), A (ALEQX), C (ALEHX), R (ALEWX) and R6 (ALEDX) share classes. AC Alternatives Long Short joins a suite of liquid alternative funds that includes: AC Alternatives Income, AC Alternatives® Equity Market Neutral and AC Alternatives® Market Neutral Value.
The Perella Weinberg subadvisory team is led by veteran alternatives manager Chris Bittman, who joined the firm in 2009 to head Agility, the firm's outsourced chief investment officer investment solution. Previously, he was the CIO of the University of Colorado Foundation, the endowment supporting the university. Earlier in his career, he was the president and CEO of Jurika & Voyles, a California investment firm.
In addition to Bittman, the Perella Weinberg portfolio management team includes Darren Myers and Kent Muckel. Myers is a partner at Perella Weinberg and leads Agility's absolute return investment area. Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Myers served as a senior research analyst at Tejas Securities Group, Inc. He holds a bachelor's degree and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a CFA charterholder.
A partner at Perella Weinberg, Muckel has been with the firm since 2010 and leads Agility's global public equity and fixed-income areas. Previously, he was the chief investment officer for Baylor University. He is a CFA charterholder.
