Baring Asset Management (BAM) has launched the Baring EMEA Absolute Return Fund, BAM’s third long/short equity hedge fund.
The fund, managed by Marina Akopian, is specifically designed for institutional investors to make use of BAM’s proven investment skills in the region. The fund will aim to add alpha from both sides of the book while providing a degree of downside protection.
BAM believes that the transitional stage of development in which theEMEA economies find themselves, characterised by political disturbances, regulatory difficulties and company specific discrepancies, are contributing to investor sentiment and present opportunities to go short for those investors with the most appropriate and robust in-house research capabilities.
Marina Akopian, fund manager of the EMEA Absolute Return Fund comments:”The EMEA markets are among the fastest growing economies in the world with GDP growth rates estimated to be around 4.5% per annum for the next 10 years, compared with an expected average of 2% per annum for the EU15 countries (Source CAIB, September 2005). This part of the world is undergoing a transformation towards market reforms, social and political development, and also provides a significant opportunity to take advantage of available resources, both natural and human
“Based on these opportunities we have adopted a strategy which allows us to short selected securities so we are able to add alpha for our investors by taking strategic positions on certain stocks within a concentrated portfolio. Another great advantage of the EMEA markets is their low correlation to the US, European and Asian markets. Investing in this EMEA region through a long/short strategy can add value in addition to providing diversification. Similarly, investors should not view the EMEA region as uniform as correlations within the portfolio is also low.”