09/06/2010 Author: Tony Griffiths

Boyer Allan launches EMEA and Ucits funds

Boyer Allan, the Asian equities specialist, is branching out with an array of new funds, including a Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) vehicle and a Ucits version of its $330m flagship product, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal.

 The $750m firm, which has maintained a strong focus on China and Asia since launching in 1998, recently acquired the EMEA team from London boutique Zebedee Capital Partners, which, at the tail-end of 2009, decided to concentrate resources on its main European offering.

The $32m Zebedee Emerging Market (EMEA) Fund officially changed hands at the beginning of May 2010, becoming the Boyer Allan EMEA Fund, and began trading last week; remaining as cash during May’s market turbulence.

London-based Boyer Allan is also poised to launch a Ucits version of its main Pacific Fund, the Asia (including Japan) equity long/short offering managed by the firm’s founders, Nick Allan and Johnny Boyer. The Luxembourg-domiciled fund will be distributed via the Merrill Lynch platform and begins trading next week, aiming to reach $100m in 12 months’ time, according to Roger Denby-Jones, Boyer Allan’s CEO.  

Zebedee’s three-man team, headed up by James Tregear, a former global head of equity sales at UBS, will maintain the focus developed at Zebedee, trading across all the EMEA markets, focusing on the most liquid, such as Russia and Turkey. The fund has returned 7% since its inception in January 2008, on 9% volatility, versus a benchmark -34% with 41% volatility.

“We’d always thought about bringing in talent to look at the other emerging markets, because that would help us inform our core Asian long/short decision making,” said Denby-Jones. “Over the last two years I’ve seen a good number of potential candidates for this strategy and this is the first time when I’ve got the right combination of people, asset size, and track-record.”

Emerging market funds struggled in May, falling by 4.16%, according to data provider HFR, as regional equity markets fell victim to the contagion of the European sovereign debt crisis.

However, funds that focus on these areas remain popular as institutional investors look to diversify away from Western markets.

A strong performance in the initial quarter of 2010 saw emerging market funds’ total assets under management increase by $5.3bn to $98bn, offsetting a relatively small investor net capital outflow of $560m.

“Throughout the ongoing EU-centric sovereign debt crisis, emerging market hedge funds have continued to demonstrate strategic sophistication and performance resilience,” said Kenneth Heinz, president of Hedge Fund Research.

The Ucits and EMEA funds are two of three new additions to the Boyer Allan platform in 2010. The firm launched its first long-only product, a China-focused fund, in March.