Mako Investment Managers (MIM) says its Mako VolPlus volatility arbitrage fund, launched on 3 March, closed on the same day, substantially oversubscribed.
The fund aims to produce superior returns by exploiting volatility inefficiencies in the equity and fixed income markets, under the management of fourteen derivatives traders and quantitative analysts.
Robert Hanna, formerly Head of Sales at Merrill Lynch’s Global Equity Finance Group in New York, has joined Mako as CIO. “The instant success of this fund confirms the increasing awareness of market volatility among investors and the growing demand for volatility arbitrage strategies,” he says. “Volatility opportunities are always present in the equity and fixed income markets. However, it is no surprise that in light of the major economic and geopolitical uncertainties that we are currently experiencing, these opportunities have increased significantly”.
David Segel, CEO of the Mako Group, added: “We are very pleased to have MIM off to a successful start. It has been a goal of ours for a long time to successfully apply our core trading expertise to the benefit of investing clients. Our heavy investment in proprietary options pricing and risk management can now bring value to customers as well as Mako’s own proprietary market-making teams”.
MIM has plans to manage a second quantitative arbitrage fund, the Century Warwick Fund, which will be launched on April 1st.
Mako Group is a collection of privately owned companies created following a management buyout from Saratoga in 1999.