3A Launches Six New Hedge Funds

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

28 January 2008

3A (Alternative Asset Advisors), the hedge-fund management division of Swiss banking group SYZ and Co, has announced the launch of six new sub funds of the Alternative Capital Enhancement SICAV, 3A’s Luxembourg-based USD1.3 bn fund of hedge funds SICAV.

The new sub funds represent two different strategies, ACE Asia Fund and ACE Opportunity Fund. Both are available in USD, EUR and CHF, and like all other ACE sub funds, the new funds are authorised for distribution in Switzerland as 'funds presenting special risks.'

Through a diversified portfolio of Asian hedge funds, 3A believes that the ACE Asia Fund provides investors with access to the impressive growth rates achieved by economies in this region, particularly China and India. In addition, the firm argued that the Asia fund allows diversification away from the North American and European markets.

The ACE Asia Fund was established on 1 June 2007, before receiving authorisation for distribution in Switzerland at the end of 2007. It is now publicly available, like all other sub funds of Alternative Capital Enhancement, as a fund with special risks.

The ACE Opportunity Fund aims to generate returns above the average yield of multi-strategy funds, through a portfolio combining opportunistic hedge funds with managers focusing on what 3A believes are the most promising investment themes in the short to medium term. 3A explained that this fund should be able to achieve higher returns than a conventional multi-strategy fund, but is accompanied by somewhat higher volatility, and should therefore be considered as a complement to an existing portfolio of hedge funds.

Currently, the ACE Opportunity Fund focuses on a number of investment themes and is invested in 17 hedge funds representing various distinct strategies, such as: US economic slowdown (Macro), rising default rate (Credit), Russia / Technology / Gold (Long/Short Equity), increased volatility in Asia (Long Volatility), and opportunistic managers.

The ACE Opportunity Fund was launched on 1 December 2007, and is authorised for distribution in Switzerland.

The minimum subscription in all three currencies is 1,000 for Class A investors, 10,000 for Class B investors, and 5 million for institutional investors. The annual management and performance fees are 1.5% and 7.5% respectively, except for institutional investors, who are charged a management fee of 1%.

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