SVM Asset Management, the Edinburgh based investment boutique, has launched a strategic partnership with Level E Capital, the Edinburgh based hedge fund.

SVM Asset Management has made a significant level of investment in the Maya Market Neutral fund, a long short absolute return fund, through the SVM Global fund.

The Maya Market Neutral fund, which launched in early January, is a systematic, long short equity fund investing in large cap UK and US equities. The fund has a liquid, diversified portfolio of 400 positions, an average gross exposure of 200% and a target return of 15%, with a market correlation of less than 0.5.

Melville Bucher, head of hedge fund marketing, SVM Asset Management, said: “Our confidence in both Level E and the process which the Maya Market Neutral fund uses is demonstrated by the significant investment which we have made through the SVM Global fund. We believe the absolute return approach complements SVM Global fund’s existing portfolio of investments. The strategy provides the potential for equity type returns whilst also offering low volatility coupled with low correlation to traditional equity indices.

“SVM is currently the lead institutional investor in the fund and will be working in partnership with Level E promoting and distributing the product to increase the fund’s asset base.”

The fund uses a fully automated decision making process. The investment methodology relies on the trading system’s ability to retrieve, store and process large quantities of data automatically, removing human subjective factors from the process.