F&C To Launch Global Hedge Fund

F&C Asset Management announced on Monday that they are launching a global diversified fixed income hedge fund, called the F&C Tourmaline fund.

The hedge fund is to be run by a team of three, Sanjay Joshi, Rabbani Wahhab and Mario Nicolaou, and quantitative analyst Shilen Shah. They hired the team of fixed income hedge fund managers from London & Capital.

Last month F&C had announced their interest in expanding their hedge fund presence, saying they had plans to increase their investments in hedge funds.

"This is an important development for F&C Alternative Investments and a mark of F&C's ambition to grow our hedge fund presence. We will continue to actively look for further opportunities," Fernando Ribeiro, head of investments, said in a note.

At the end of last month shares in F&C fell heavily after the firm said it would rebase its 2007 dividend to allow increased investment in higher-margin new products.

F&C Management Ltd is a European investment house quoted on the London Stock Exchange with €154.6 billion (over $200 billion) under management and offices throughout Europe.