08/09/2010 Author: Tony Griffiths

BREAKING NEWS: ML Capital launches new Ucits platform

ML Capital, the Malta-based financial management firm, has launched its new Ucits-compliant hedge fund platform, after having lobbied Ireland’s Financial Regulator for a change to sub-fund branding rules, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal.  

Domiciled in Ireland, The Montlake Ucits Platform is to launch its first fund on 1 October. Two more funds are to be brought onboard by the end of the year, with a capacity for 10-15 funds in total – expected to be filled in 12-24 months. 

“The aim is to have a suite of managers diversified across a range of strategies and in a range of locations,” COO Richard Day told HFMWeek.  

Plans for the platform received a boost last week when the Financial Regulator announced that, following a submission made by Matheson Ormsby Prentice on behalf of ML Capital, it would be changing its policy on sub-fund branding. As of 1 September, reference to an investment manager’s name in the title of a sub-fund within an umbrella fund structure is now permitted.   

“The movement of hedge funds to the mainstream through Ucits is the most significant development in the investment management industry in recent times,” said ML Capital Group chairman John Lowry. “This is an important venture for ML Capital as we seek to establish ourselves as a market leading provider of quality hedge funds accessed through the Ucits structure.”

As well as acting as investment manager, ML Capital will provide the platform’s funds with promotion services and offer them access to investors within its distribution network.

Service providers on offer to Montlake funds include: Bank of America Merrill Lynch for prime brokerage (with further additions expected), Citi for custody, administration and trustee services and KPMG for auditing.

Last month, HFMWeek unearthed plans by industry veterans John Paulson and Barton Biggs to move into the Ucits space. Both hedge fund managers are poised to launch funds under Deutsche Bank’s Platinum Ucits umbrella. Based in Luxembourg, Platinum allows sponsors to retain branding in the titles of their Ucits product.