Man Group Alum Launches Canadian-focused Fund

Date: Monday, April 7, 2008
Author: Alternative Investment News

Lightwater Partners LTD, headed by Man Group alum David Vickerman, is launching a long/short equity fund focused on Canada. The firm aims to launch Lightwater Canadian Opportunities Fund with $150 million on June 1. Vickerman was founder, CEO and portfolio manager of Man-Vector Limited, a joint venture with Man Group.

The firm chose to focus on Canada because the country offers plenty of resources that the developing world needs and its hedge fund universe is unsaturated, less mature and has higher volatility. Canada is also considered inefficient in comparison with the United States and Europe. The fund will have a portfolio of 25-35 companies.

Jerome Hass, a partner in charge of the firm’s fundamental analysis, said that given the volatility in the market, there’s a lot more investment opportunities than there were six months ago, making this as good a time as any to launch.

Hass said the growth capacity for the fund will be $400 million, at which point the firm will reevaluate the situation. The fund’s minimum investment is $500,000 with a fee structure of 2/20.