29 Jun 2010
Northern Trust has announced it has established the Northern Trust Common Contractual Fund as a platform that will allow investment managers to offer proprietary investment strategies in a cross-border fund vehicle designed to appeal to large institutional investors. The Northern Trust CCF is an Irish-domiciled UCITS fund.
Within the Northern Trust CCF, investment managers can establish sub-funds with distinct portfolios of assets, investment guidelines, fund features, and investors. Northern Trust will provide global custody, fund administration, investor-level tax services and management company services to the CCF and the underlying sub-funds.
As a vehicle that is recognized as tax-transparent in many investment markets and investor jurisdictions, the Northern Trust CCF may allow certain institutional investors to invest on a tax efficient basis, benefiting from treaty arrangements in place between their home jurisdiction and the country of investment, thereby reducing certain taxes on the sub-fund’s investments when compared to non fiscally-transparent fund structures. Northern Trust is a proven innovator in this market and has tailored its global custody, trustee and fund administration processes to support tax-transparent funds, including CCFs, on an automated basis.
The first manager to utilize the platform is Axiom International Investors, L.L.C., of Greenwich, Conn., which will launch a sub-fund under a global equity mandate. Axiom Chief Operating Officer Bart Tesoriero said the firm will launch the sub-fund for several U.K. domiciled investors initially and expects to add investors from other markets as well.
“This platform will help investment managers gain access to the European market through a UCITS fund that also protects the tax status of the underlying institutional investors,” said Serge Boccassini, senior vice president, Global Asset Servicing Product and Strategy at Northern Trust. “Our new fund platform represents another cross-border pooling innovation by Northern Trust and provides an option for fund managers to distribute products to the institutional market on a cross-border basis in a timely and cost efficient manner.”
Within the Northern Trust CCF, investment managers can establish sub-funds with distinct portfolios of assets, investment guidelines, fund features, and investors. Northern Trust will provide global custody, fund administration, investor-level tax services and management company services to the CCF and the underlying sub-funds.
As a vehicle that is recognized as tax-transparent in many investment markets and investor jurisdictions, the Northern Trust CCF may allow certain institutional investors to invest on a tax efficient basis, benefiting from treaty arrangements in place between their home jurisdiction and the country of investment, thereby reducing certain taxes on the sub-fund’s investments when compared to non fiscally-transparent fund structures. Northern Trust is a proven innovator in this market and has tailored its global custody, trustee and fund administration processes to support tax-transparent funds, including CCFs, on an automated basis.
The first manager to utilize the platform is Axiom International Investors, L.L.C., of Greenwich, Conn., which will launch a sub-fund under a global equity mandate. Axiom Chief Operating Officer Bart Tesoriero said the firm will launch the sub-fund for several U.K. domiciled investors initially and expects to add investors from other markets as well.
“We are experiencing rising demand from institutional investors in the U.K. and Europe for our global equities strategy but have lacked an efficient commingled vehicle for distribution in these markets.” said Mr. Tesoriero. “Northern Trust’s cross-border solution allows us to offer this strategy in a regulated, commingled structure that is also tax-transparent. The UCITS fund is recognized as an investment vehicle of choice in Europe and a smart fund solution for sophisticated investors.”
