GLG to launch long-only UK fund for hedge fund stars |
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009
Author: Sara Smith, Citywire
The fund will mirror the Dublin-domiciled GLG Select Equity fund that the duo has been running since 2006.
It will aim to outperform the FTSE All-Share Total Return benchmark by 5% a year and sit in the IMA UK All Companies sector.
White and MacKay are joint heads of the UK equity desk at GLG.
Hari Sandhu, former SGAM head of UK equities, will now work as fund manager under the duo on the UK equity desk.
He is no longer the named manager on his UK Special Opportunities fund as it is being merged into the GLG UK Select fund.
Andrew Thatcher, principal of asset allocation at GLG, said: ‘These are our two very best managers and I have no doubt the fund will achieve its high aims. John and Jason have been working together for more than 10 years and are a fantastic team.’
The fund will have a lower fee structure than the Dublin-domiciled version, which is predominantly targeted at ultra high net worth and institutional investors. The group hopes the lower fees will make it more attractive to UK investors.
Mackay also worked at Morgan Stanley, joining the firm in 2002 as a proprietary trader in partnership with White. He started his career at SG Warburg in 1994 as a pan-European salesman.
GLG has made a number of changes to the SGAM range adopted in the acquisition earlier this year. Last month the UK Select Opportunities fund was merged into the UK Select fund and the group is now finalising plans to launch an absolute return fund later this year.
Thatcher said: ‘We have lots of plans to make the range more attractive to a UK audience. We want to use our current team and skills to expand into the UK and make our offering more visible. It is all about launching the right fund at the right time, however, and we will not be rushing anything.’