Amiri Capital LLP, the London-based Shariah-compliant alternative investment management group, is launching the Amiri Equity Alternative Strategies (AEAS) fund in cooperation with Newedge.
AEAS is Amiris first fund and the first Islamic alternative investment product to offer long/short equity strategy in a fund of funds. Coronation, the London-based multi-manager, will oversee the AEAS fund, which plan to employ around ten underlying managers.
The aspects of the fund:- it is Shariah compliant,
– it is operated within a single funds structure that has managed accounts (Amiri asks investment managers to run portfolios on a Shariah basis,)
– it uses a screening methodology.
The AEAS fund has been certified as Shariah-compliant by a five-member Shariah Supervisory Committee chaired by Sheikh Hussain Hassan.
The AEAS fund is targeting around $1bn in assets from Middle Eastern and Asian institutional investors.
There arent many conventional Shariah funds to choose from, says Bindesh Shah, one of Amiris founders. Se we identify managers we like and we work with them to develop a Shariah compliant managed account.
To find conventional managers who dont have any experience of Shariah funds, Coronation does the usual due diligence work and we talk to them. Then we take care of the structures and the rating. We in effect put these managers onto a Shariah platform.
L.D.