Old Broad Street Research (OBSR), a City-based privately incorporated investment and product research specialist, has awarded an ‘A’ rating to the GLG European
Old Broad Street Research (OBSR), a City-based privately incorporated investment and product research specialist, has awarded an ‘A’ rating to the GLG European Alpha Alternative UCITS. Launched in July 2009 by GLG – recently acquired by and now a subsidiary of Man Group plc – the fund follows in the footsteps of its Japan CoreAlpha Fund, which was recently upgraded by OBSR from ‘AA’ to ‘AAA’. The USD44million European Alpha Alternative newcits uses a relative value strategy, which seeks to generate alpha by identifying price differentials between stocks in the same asset class. Co-managers Philippe Isvy and Pierre Valade have used this “pair trading” approach to take long and short positions in equities and derivatives of European large-cap companies. The average holding period for any given position is 40 days and target net annual returns for the fund are 10 per cent. Richard Phillips (pictured), UK Head of Retail at Man commented that the firm was “very pleased” to see that Philippe and Pierre’s highly disciplined approach to running the fund was recognised by OBSR. In the official press release, OBSR, commenting on their decision, said: “The managers respond to significant relative stock price movements within industries when they believe the movement is excessive,” adding that despite the relatively short-term investment horizon, the managers are able to “articulate a precise thesis for every holding in the fund”.
