14th Jan 2016 10:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - BlueCrest AllBlue Fund Ltd on Thursday said it wants to hand the mandate for its assets to JP Morgan Chase & Co's asset management business, paving the way for it to invest in a hedge fund managed by Highbridge Capital Management.
Since its inception 23 years ago this month, the Highbridge Multi-Strategy Fund has delivered 10.76% annualised returns, 6.89% annualised volatility and "low" beta - an investment term referring to volatility - relative to equity and credit indices, according to BlueCrest's statement.
Founded in 1992, one year before the launch of its multi-strategy fund, Highbridge Capital Management had USD29.0 billion in assets under management at the end of 2015 and employed more than 380 people at its offices in London, New York and Hong Kong. Highbridge's strategic partnership with JP Morgan was formed in 2004.
The proposed move to hand its mandate to JP Morgan Asset Management and subsequent investment in Highbridge comes after BlueCrest AllBlue Fund received a "significant number" of indicative approaches from third-party investment managers to take on the management of its assets.
Awarding its mandate to JP Morgan marks a departure from investing in AllBlue Ltd, a BlueCrest AllBlue multi-strategy fund of hedge funds investing in BlueCrest funds across discretionary and systematic trading. AllBlue and its underlying funds were managed by BlueCrest Capital Management LLP, a hedge fund firm.
On December 1, BlueCrest Capital Management, along with AllBlue, informed BlueCrest AllBlue Fund of its intention to return capital to investors. According to BlueCrest AllBlue Fund, several of its shareholders said they would prefer to remain invested in BlueCrest AllBlue Fund rather than receive capital returns, enabling other investment managers, such as JP Morgan, to make approaches for the mandate.
The proposed appointment of JP Morgan will be subject to shareholder approval as part of a broader re-organisation.
BlueCrest AllBlue Fund said its shareholders will be able to receive a full cash exit at net asset value less costs.
Following implementation of the proposals, BlueCrest AllBlue Fund said the intention is to introduce a quarterly redemption facility, for up to 20% of the prevailing NAV of the company at NAV less costs.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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