HSBC launches UCITS emerging markets fund

6 Apr 2010
HSBC Global Asset Management will launch a UCITS III absolute return global emerging markets fund in April 2010.

The HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha Fund, which offers daily liquidity, will target annual returns of 10-15% based on approximately 10% volatility with limited market correlation.

The fund will be jointly managed by Omar Negyal and Nick Timberlake, who together have a combined three decades investment experience in global emerging market equities.

Negyal, who has more than 10 year’s experience in GEM equities, joined HSBC Global Asset Management in 2009, from hedge fund specialist Lansdowne Partners, where he spent three and a half years as a senior member of the team managing long/short Global Emerging Markets funds. Prior to that he spent seven years at F&C where he was a member of the Emerging Markets Asian team. Before joining HSBC in 2005, Timberlake, who has been in fund management for almost 20 years, worked for F&C Asset Management.

In addition to their own expertise, the managers will be supported by the London based HSBC GEM Equities management and trading team, as well as by the wider HSBC Emerging Markets research network, consisting of more than 40 investment professionals.

With the HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha Fund, Negyal and Timberlake will monitor a universe of approximately 700 stocks, selected from across MSCI Emerging Market nations and certain MSCI Frontier Markets. Together they will run approximately 35 long and 35 short stock positions, aiming to generate alpha on both sides of the portfolio.

Negyal says: “The HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha Fund is a high-conviction long/short portfolio. The investment process is fundamentally driven by a highly disciplined approach to stock picking, using combined profitability/valuation metrics for both long and short equity selection.”

The fund forms part of HSBC Global Asset Management’s Luxembourg-domiciled Global Investment Funds range, which is available for sale in around 35 countries.

The minimum investment in the HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha Fund is US$5,000 for the retail share class and US$1 million for institutional while the annual management charges are 1.5% and 1% respectively. There is a performance fee of 20% over the fund’s benchmark.