Michael Platt’s Hedge Fund is Opening Its High-Performing Equity Fund
Michael Platt's $14 billion hedge fund firm BlueCrest is launching its high-performing equity fund to outside investors, marking a new attempt by one of Europe's biggest hedge funds to expand into the asset class.
The
BlueCrest Equity Strategies fund has operated with its own capital of
$1 billion until now but plans to accept its first money from third
parties from April, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
BlueCrest
aims to double the fund's assets in a first fundraising round after
delivering annualised returns of 11.8 percent, with volatility of 6
percent, since the fund was launched in July 2013.
The
fund returned 9.3 percent last year, marketing material for the fund
seen by Reuters showed, more than twice that for the Eurekahedge Hedge
Fund Index.
Ed Orlebar, a spokesman for BlueCrest declined to comment.
The
move into equities bolsters BlueCrest's product line which until now
had focused on asset classes such as interest rates, fixed income and
credit.
It
also highlights a broader trend in the industry where big hedge funds
are strengthening their product range to attract capital from
institutional investors that have boosted the industry's assets to
almost $3 trillion.
The
new equity fund's performance provides a much needed boost for
BlueCrest, which has had weak returns from its flagship macro fixed
income fund.
Source: Reuters
