04/03/2010 Author: Elana Margulies

Evolvence fund closes to outside investors 

Evolvence Capital, the Dubai-based $1bn alternative asset manager focused on the Middle East, North Africa and India, has decided it will no longer take third-party capital for its Evolvence Mena Hedge Fund and will be solely a vehicle for proprietary trading, HFMWeek has learned.

The manager announced the decision to close the fund to outside investment in an investor letter. The fund, which launched two years ago, invests in both equities and corporate bonds and implements a multi-strategy approach. It allocates to Mena blue chip companies based on both fundamental and opportunistic approaches.

In January, the fund returned 0.08%. Last year it was up approximately 5% and in 2008, it was down 3%.
Evolvence Capital was founded by Khaled Al-Muhairy in 2001. Previously Al-Muhairy headed the North American department of the Abu Dubai Investment Authority (ADIA), where he specialised in technology and telecommunication equity investments.