Swiss hedge fund group plans LSE listing for fund
The London Stock Exchange has received two further votes of confidence from alternative fund managers as Partners Group and FRM each announced progress in their plans to launch products on the exchange's official list.
Separate announcements from each fund manager came after Diamond Circle Capital announced it had raised $75m (euro 48m) for a London-listed fund investing in diamonds, and Indian private equity firm ICICI Venture announced it was planning to list a $1.5bn Indian real estate fund on the main market.
Asset manager Partners Group is to move its Partners Group Global Opportunities private equity fund to the London Stock Exchange's main market in a bid to raise trading volumes for the fund's shares, and narrow the shareprice's discount to net asset value.
Global Opportunities is currently listed on both London's Alternative Investment Market and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, and has appointed investment bank UBS as sponsor for the fund's move, which will involve its delisting from these two exchanges.
The news comes as London fund of hedge funds manager Financial Risk Management announced it had raised £61.84m for a new London Stock Exchange-listed fund of hedge funds.
The board of Partners Group's fund said in a statement it aimed to complete the move on July 23.
Partners Group Global Opportunities invests predominantly in private equity and privately-owned debt.
Ken Ball, general manager of Partners Group Global Opportunities Fund, said he hoped the main market listing, which already has shareholders' approval, would narrow a discount to net asset value which has beset the fund since July 2007.
Shares of the fund were trading at a 27.69% discount to net asset value, based on the share price on June 25 and net asset value of May 30.
The fund's net asset value per share rose by 5% in 2007, but it has remained fairly steady through 2007, starting the year on euro 10.2 and ending May at euro 9.89.
Ball said listed private equity funds had experienced a "lack of positive sentiment on the back of the credit crunch."
John Hallam, chairman of Partners Group Global Opportunities, said he hoped the relisting on the London Stock Exchange's main list would increase trading volumes in the fund's shares and give the company a higher profile.
In other news on London-listed alternative funds fund of hedge funds manager FRM said it had raised £61.84m for FRM Diversified Alpha Limited, a London Stock Exchange-listed vehicle which will pursue a similar investment strategy to FRM Absolute Alpha Diversified, FRM's unlisted flagship, whose US dollar share class has appreciated by 8.05% on an annualised basis since the fund's launch in January 1998.
Announcing the capital raising Paul Dunning, Financial Risk Management Limited's chief executive officer, said the London Stock Exchange was "emerging as the leading market for listed hedge fund products."
FRM said its new fund aimed to make returns exceeding cash with low volatility and low correlation to equity and credit markets.
It will invest in equity long/short, specialist credit, relative value, and directional trading hedge funds. FRM manages about $10bn for around 300 pension funds using this strategy, the company said.
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