State Street Global Advisors has become the first fund manager to break the $10bn (7.3billion) barrier in assets under management for so-called “130/30 strategies”, which allow traditionally long-only investors to take limited bets on share prices falling.
The figure confirms State Street’s place among the top tier of firms running this type of funds. Major competitors to the Boston-based manager include Barclays Global Investors, with $6bn under management, including $1.2bn in Europe.
In April, a survey from US investment magazine Pensions & Investments found that firms running these funds had attracted $30bn of investment, although this figure has almost certainly risen.
Managers including Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Axa Rosenberg, as well as State Street and BGI, are promoting 130/30 strategies in the UK. Fundamental managers have recently been entering the fray, with houses such as Fortis, BlackRock and Bear Stearns Asset Management developing products.
State Street has promised to launch more 130/30 fund to add to its existing stable of 14, and said it plans to run the products in “most markets and across the risk spectrum”. State Street runs total assets of about $1.8 trillion.