28/04/2010 Author: Elana Margulies

AppleTree Capital launches emerging markets offering

Michael Nicoletos and Dimitris Apistoulas, formerly of Eurobank EFG Securities, have joined the growing ranks of emerging markets launches, as they debut the Violet Emerging Markets Fund, a long/short emerging market equities strategy.

Earlier this year, the duo formed Athens-based AppleTree Capital and will roll out the new fund at the beginning of next month. It will invest in a variety of countries with an emphasis on Turkey, Russia, Poland and Hungary, followed by Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Austria. Holding between 25 and 35 positions, it will focus mainly on large-cap equities.

The evolution in emerging markets investing is gathering pace. Fund managers, responding to investors’ current aversion to country-specific offerings, have broadened their geographic horizons to provide products that access a diverse array of emerging economies.

Nicoletos, co-founder, said he and Apistoulas decided to debut the fund given the recent growth in their
investment region.

“We believe there are opportunities in this area because it is not a homogenous region, so people tend to focus on individual countries as opposed to the whole area,” he said.

The fund will launch with $35m and is expected to grow to $100m by year-end.

Nicoletos was the head of international equities at Eurobank EFG Securities, the brokerage arm of Eurobank. Apistoulas was director of regional equity brokerage for Eurobank EFG Securities and helped set up and manage its regional brokerage business.

The fund has a $500,000 investment minimum and 1.5/20 fees. There is no hard lock-up but a 2% exit fee if investors withdraw money the first year and a 1% exit fee if they leave during the second year. These exit fees will go to the fund’s net asset value. Goldman Sachs is the prime broker