Higher risk hedge fund campaign on at CDC Ixis

The ready-to-launch range of higher risk funds of hedge funds products will be the French company’s number one priority this year. CDC Ixis Asset Management (CDC Ixis AM), the investments arm of one of France’s major banks, has put higher risk hedge fund products at the top of its agenda for the rest of 2003. The Paris-based firm is set to offer a new range of funds of hedge funds which will target performance of 10–12 per cent. These are much more substantial returns than those achieved by previous CDC Ixis alternative funds, which were capital protected. The earliest launch, planned for April, will be the company’s first retail fund of hedge funds. It will be marketed in France through the bank Caisse d’Épargne, which owns part of CDC’s parent, French holding company Eulia. Isabelle Reux-Brown, head of alternative and structured asset management at CDC Ixis AM, believes the fund will reach E50m within a year. She added that the product would soon be launched in Italy and Spain, where it will be sold through banks. The fund will invest in a range of hedge funds following five broad strategies: global macro, convertible arbitrage, managed futures, long-short European equities and event driven. The minimum investment is E5000. The first launch will be followed by whole suite of funds of hedge funds based in Luxembourg and aimed at a client base of distributors and institutional investors. These will include an event driven fund and a multi strategy fund. A pure high yield arbitrage product is planned for July and statistical arbitrage for September. Towards year-end CDC will bring out a pure volatility arbitrage fund of hedge funds.