18 Jan 2012
Altana Wealth founder Lee Robinson has seeded the launch of Altana Inflation Trends Fund with $10 million and has appointed Alex Krainer as portfolio manager. AITF aims to protect investor capital by profiting from the expected large-scale dislocations in the commodities and financial markets.
AITF, which is the second fund launched by Altana, will focus on investing in around 30 financial and commodity futures markets likely to be most affected by inflation and deflation data. These include: interest rates, energy, metals, agriculture and equities.
AITF will strive to meet this objective through systematic trend-following strategies in a select range of financial and commodity futures markets, sound risk management and proprietary technology with a proven track record.”
In 2007, Krainer set up Galstar Derivatives Trading, a joint venture with Monaco-based GEG Management and generated a notable performance track record. In 2005, he teamed up with London-based PCE Investors Ltd. and launched a CTA/Global Macro hedge fund.
Krainer began his career in trading and risk management in 1996 at Greenoil, a Monaco affiliate of the Swiss commodities group Trasimex. As the group’s head of risk he led the firm-wide R&D project in risk management and decision support systems. After leaving Greenoil in 2003, Krainer invested substantially to turn this technology into a robust decision support system suitable for managing hedge funds.
The new fund, which has sterling, dollar and euro share classes, has no lock-up and will offer weekly liquidity upon request. It has a minimum investment of $100,000 with a 1.5% management fee and a 20% performance fee. Goldman Sachs International is the prime broker.
AITF, which is the second fund launched by Altana, will focus on investing in around 30 financial and commodity futures markets likely to be most affected by inflation and deflation data. These include: interest rates, energy, metals, agriculture and equities.
“We believe that most advanced economies of the world will experience an extended period of high inflation in the near future, during which investors risk losing a significant proportion of their wealth in real terms,” said AITF portfolio manager Krainer. “High inflation signifies that money will gradually lose value against real assets like energy, metals or agricultural commodities that people and firms use to conduct their daily activities. The best way to protect your wealth from inflation, whilst still benefiting from deflationary episodes, is through exposure to price trends for such commodities."
AITF will strive to meet this objective through systematic trend-following strategies in a select range of financial and commodity futures markets, sound risk management and proprietary technology with a proven track record.”
In 2007, Krainer set up Galstar Derivatives Trading, a joint venture with Monaco-based GEG Management and generated a notable performance track record. In 2005, he teamed up with London-based PCE Investors Ltd. and launched a CTA/Global Macro hedge fund.
Krainer began his career in trading and risk management in 1996 at Greenoil, a Monaco affiliate of the Swiss commodities group Trasimex. As the group’s head of risk he led the firm-wide R&D project in risk management and decision support systems. After leaving Greenoil in 2003, Krainer invested substantially to turn this technology into a robust decision support system suitable for managing hedge funds.
“Current global economic imbalances are likely to lead to significant future asset price re-adjustments,” said Robinson. “A prudent investor should hold meaningful exposure to price trends in appropriate commodities and financial markets. Alex has developed a strategy which is among the most effective possible means of hedging against inflation and/or recession. Common with our wider investment strategy we will limit AITF to a nimble size that allows us to deliver investors undiluted returns and a meaningful portfolio protection during periods of inflation or recession.”
The new fund, which has sterling, dollar and euro share classes, has no lock-up and will offer weekly liquidity upon request. It has a minimum investment of $100,000 with a 1.5% management fee and a 20% performance fee. Goldman Sachs International is the prime broker.
Robinson added: “Large size precludes some CTAs from keeping more than token exposure in many commodity markets where price levels have tremendous up-side potential. Their concentration in financials (stocks, bonds and FX) diminishes their ability to offer investors an adequately diversified true CTA investment vehicle with a lower correlation to benchmarks. We expect the returns on investment to accrue steadily over the long run, regardless of business cycles in traditional investment markets. Our investment objective is to generate exceptional positive net returns, with volatility similar to that of the S&P500 and with far smaller down-side risk.”
