Signet makes a very wise move launching a fund of ucits hedge funds based in Dublin. The Signet Multi-Strategy Fund is a UCITS III fund and will compete with Morgan Stanley, which recent launched its own ucits fund of funds (FoFs) platform, which intends to launch 1-2 new sub-funds every few weeks for the indefinite future. Domiciles like Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta are offering onshore funds a virtually cost-free environment for launching sub-funds. In Lux it costs approximately $2000 in regulatory fees for the first 25 sub-funds setup funds and about $1400 for all funds after 25 without limitation. There is a clear opportunity for an innovative FoFs to do exciting things in the retail UCITS space...
Signet Launches Global UCITS Fund of Funds
by Matthew Goodburn on Sep 02, 2010 at 19:07
Fund-of-hedge-funds management and advisory group Signet is launching its first UCITS-compliant fund of funds for its institutional and private-bank clients.
The London and Switzerland-based group which runs some $1.4 billion of assets, said the Signet Multi-Strategy Fund would offer weekly liquidity amd would be able to allocate to around 15 hedge funds globally, in line with the limits set under UCITS III guidelines.
The Dublin-domiciled fund is intended for investors in the UK, continental Europe and Asia.
As with Signet’s other funds of funds, the new fund will aim to produce consistent, low-volatility returns largely uncorrelated with traditional markets.
Tim Gardner, Signet’s global head of sales, said: 'Our clients have asked for, and we have delivered, a genuine fund of UCITS hedge funds - not a wrapper or an index. Because the underlying funds will be UCITS-regulated, they will be subject to strict limits on leverage and liquidity.'
obert Marquardt, said: 'As the number of UCITS hedge funds has increased
The firm's founder, Robert Marquardt, said: 'As the number of UCITS hedge funds has increased exponentially, research and risk management have become critically important, and the best funds-of-funds distinguish themselves in both these areas. Our experienced team performs precisely the same thorough due diligence on these funds as it does for our other funds.'
He added: 'The fund will be flexible in terms of strategy. It will allocate mainly to long/short equity and fixed income, but also to multi-strategy, global macro, and other strategies – always keeping UCITS guidelines in mind.'
