“Given the difficult trading conditions in the second half of 2007 it was quite an achievement to post such results. Generating this very high quality risk adjusted return reflects our objective approach to fund management,” CIA Director, Nick England argued.

The fund focuses on generating absolute returns by controlling risk through manager diversification and avoiding a high correlation with global equity markets.

Mr England added: “Many managers often have higher correlations to the equity markets than they think and this serves to undermine the absolute return credentials of their fund of funds. As an example, both August and November last year were very difficult markets for equities and hedge funds in general whereas the monthly returns for The Hurdle Fund classes were all positive.”

Mr England has returned home to Guernsey with his family following 17 years trading derivatives on the exchanges in London.
He explained: “It is very important for me to be close to the people I work with, whether it is the service providers or the traders trading the fund’s invested capital and therefore locating the business in Guernsey was a natural choice. In addition, Guernsey’s strong administration and regulatory framework made it particularly attractive to domicile The Hurdle Fund here in the Island.”

Guernsey based service providers to the fund include administrators Trident Trust, Butterfield Bank as custodians and auditors Deloitte.

Peter Niven, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance – the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry, observed that: “It is very positive to see that managers setting up in Guernsey are supported by the broad range of professional services that are resident on the Island. What is even more important is the fact that greater numbers of high quality managers are setting up in Guernsey and delivering high quality returns such as those achieved by The Hurdle Fund.”

Mr England said that structuring the fund as a Protected Cell Company (PCC) – a concept pioneered in Guernsey – was a cost effective and efficient way to establish a core fund and feeder (currency) cells.