Invesco Launches First Non-US Hedge Fund In Europe

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore, London

17 September 2002

The road to Europe from the US is becoming well-trodden by hedge fund managers in pursuit of the dramatic growth in hedge fund investment that has been taking place as European investors tire of negative experiences in the conventional equity markets.

The latest firm to launch its first hedge fund into Europe is Invesco, part of Amvescap, the Anglo-American fund manager. The fund is based on an equity long-short strategy combined with investments in index and bond futures, and will be marketed to institutional investors and wealthy individuals.

In the US, Invesco offers these investment strategies separately: it has $1.3bn of assets in long-short funds, and $200m in futures funds.

Hedge funds are barely in the black this year compared with their usual stellar returns; but still their performance stands up well against equity indexes, which have all fared more or less disastrously. Invesco is aiming for a 10% return from the new fund, which will be run by its structured products group in New York.

The fund allows for redemptions on a monthly basis, on two days' notice; it will invest in large cap US equities, S&P 500 stock index futures and US Treasury bond futures.

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