Pictet Asset Management (Pictet AM) has expanded its Total Return fund range with the launch of the Pictet-TR Akari fund, a UCITS-compliant Japanese equity market neutral fund with weekly liquidity.
Pictet-TR Akari aims to achieve long-term capital growth with low equity market correlation, by combining bottom-up stock selection with Japanese market specific technical factors. The fund will take exposure principally to liquid and mainly large-cap stocks while targeting overall beta neutrality.
The fund will be managed by Senior Investment Managers Teruhiko (Eric) Nishimura and Tomohiro (Tomo) Yamaguchi, who are based in Tokyo. The team has been managing capital in Pictet Asset Management’s flagship multi-strategy fund (Diversified Alpha/Alphanatics) since 2016.
Nishimura says: “A thorough understanding of both company fundamentals and market technicals is essential to generating consistent returns in this market. We believe that Japan provides structural and cyclical opportunities to extract pure alpha.”
The fund is registered for sale in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Spain.
This is the eighth fund to be launched as part of Pictet Asset Management’s Total Return fund range, which now has a combined AUM of USD 10.3 billion at 31 August 2018. It joins the market neutral funds, Agora (European equity), Diversified Alpha/Alphanatics (multi-strategy) and Phoenix (Asian equities).
Also in the range are the equity long/short directional funds, Corto (European equities), Mandarin (Greater China equities), Atlas (global equities) as well as the global long/short credit fund, Kosmos.
