Search This Blog

27 Nov 2006

Investec-Rowland-Blackfish Hedge Fund

The Rowland family and Investec have both invested $20m in Blackfish-Investec Resources Special Sitaution Fund and plan to raise a further $250m from other institutions and high net worth families. The fund plans to buy or sell underlying commodities to hedge equity investments. The pair have teamed up after the big success in revamping Western Goldfields earlier this year.

The two companies, having pooled their skills, expertise and resources plan to establish an event driven special situations hedge fund with a long strategic bias and opportunistic shorting. The fund will in the main target undervalued companies in the natural resources sector as well as seek to profit from shorting overvalued situations or use short positions as a hedge.

The financial and infrastructural support will be carried out by Investec Bank, contributing seed capital, personnel, systems and marketing support. The hedge fund offers a differentiated deal flow, and an investment philosophy to achieve returns throughout the commodity cycle.

The hedge fund is to be led by Martyn Konig and George Rogers, the Fund Advisors are supported by the Commodities and Resource Finance team of Investec, Blackfish Capital Managements Natural Resource team and the Fund's Advisory Panel.

Update-Ashburton Launches Chindia Fund

The Jersey based asset management firm Ashburton has launched a new fund which invests in both China and India, the Chindia Equity Fund plans to provide access to proven expertise in these rapidly-expanding economies.

Economic forecasts expect China to grow at a rate of 8% to 10% a year, while a growth rate of 8% per year is projected for India, combined, these two countries will be the second largest economic power in the next 15 years worth approximately US$16trillion, according to Ashburton.

The Chindia Equity fund, managed by Jonathan Schiessl has a minimum investment of £10,000. An initial fee of 5% is charged as well as a 1.75% annual management fee. Schissel has had responsibility for the Asia-Pacific region for the past six years at Asbhurton.

Schiessl said: “This growth will be primarily driven by demographics as the working population of both countries is expected to increase by 250m by 2020. Furthermore, reliance on growth from exports is decreasing in both China and India, and consumer demand is growing exponentially as a result of an expanding generation with much higher aspirations. Combined, these two countries will be the second largest economic power in the next 15 years and the opportunities this offers to investors is tremendous."

The Ashburton Chindia Equity Fund is open for investment from 10 November 2006 and launching on 1 December 2006, which allows clients to invest in these fast growing regions. Ashburton has successfully obtained the all important Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) status in India and established links in China that enable the fund to directly access these markets.