Intermediary market fund to launch in December

News - Banking

Written by Ray Clancy

Friday, 19 November 2010 09:59

Hume Capital, the independent UK investment firm specialising in active fund management, is set to launch an unconstrained OEIC fund. Hume Global Opportunities Fund is currently awaiting FSA approval and expected to launch in December.

The Fund is the first fund for the intermediary market and follows the success of its Asian Equity Hedge Fund.

The OEIC will invest in a focused portfolio of 40-60 growth stocks, with a large and mid cap bias, regardless of country or sector weightings. The Fund’s aim is to offer lower volatility than conventional equity funds and, where appropriate, risk management techniques will be used in an attempt to limit downside capture.

The Fund’s highly experienced team of seven will be led by Hume Capital founder Nitin Parekh, former Global CIO of Credit Suisse Private Bank and CIO of HSBC Hong Kong, who will advise on strategy and asset allocation. The day-to-day portfolio management will be carried out by experienced stock-pickers Stephen Dowds and Stephen Watson. Prior to their joining Hume, both were senior fund managers at Northern Trust Global Investments and achieved a 4* Morningstar rating for the management of the Northern Trust International Growth Fund. The Fund’s risk manager Mark Baker, was co-founder of Eriswell Capital, a multi-strategy hedge fund, will be an integral part of the portfolio management process.

Nitin Parekh, founder of Hume Capital, says: “This is our first fund for the professional adviser market. We are committed to and we will work with them as we build out to provide products to match their clients’ needs. This is an exciting time for the company. We have demonstrated our stock picking ability with our Asian Equity long / short relative value strategy achieving -2.4% in 2008, compared with the MSCI Asia Pacific at -43.2%. Since we launched the Asia Fund in February 2008 to end of September 2010 it is up 9.1% with volatility at 4.5%, whilst the MSCI is down 12% with volatility at 26%. We intend to replicate this success and extend the range of products following the Global launch.”

Hume Capital’s investment philosophy is driven by fundamental factors that drive a company’s share price over the longer term and these are analysed within a tested sector, industry and risk framework.

Hume Capital plans to offer preferential terms to early adopters. Until 30 April 2011 there is a reduced initial and annual management charge available.