Man Investments launched capital-protected hedge fund index product

Date: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Author: Hedgeweek.com

Man Investments is looking to attract investors seeking to capitalise on the current market turmoil with the launch of the Man AP Stratum Index Notes, a capital-protected product that targets medium-term growth exceeding 10 per cent a year regardless of how markets fare.

The Man AP Stratum Index Notes is based on an index consisting of more than 50 complementary hedge fund managers with the AHL Institutional Programme, which is diversified across more than 120 markets worldwide, spreading investment over a wide range of trading strategies, markets and countries.

The investment strategy builds on the success of Man-AP Stratum, which has achieved an annualised return of 13 per cent with annualised volatility of 13.6 per cent between October 1999 and the end of last year. Man says the strategy's ability to perform during both rising and falling markets has been especially beneficial to investors seeking to diversify a traditional portfolio of stocks, property and bonds.

Citibank International provides 100 per cent capital protection that has the potential to increase in value by progressively locking in a portion of the profits during the lifetime of the product, a feature activated if the target investment exposure to the fund components of the index reaches 125 per cent of the prevailing index value.

'When markets are shaky the real strength of AP Stratum is its ability to maximise opportunities for profit and spread risk over a range of markets and strategies,' says Man Investments chief executive John Morrison.

'The product performed very well during previous corrections in global markets, and the core AHL investment approach has a history of performing during stock market corrections over the past 20 years.'

Man AP Stratum Index Notes is open for investment until March 31, with a minimum subscription of USD10,000 or EUR10,000. The maturity date is 31 May 2019 for US dollar-denominated notes and March 31, 2018 for euro notes.

Man Investments is one of the world's largest providers of hedge fund products for private and institutional investors, with USD71.7bn in assets under management. The Man Group has 1,600 employees at investment centres in London and Pfäffikon in Switzerland and offices in Chicago, Dubai, Hong Kong, Montevideo, Nassau, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.