MPG launches hedge fund shares for downside protection

Asset manager Managing Partners Group (MPG) has brought out share classes denominated in euro, Swiss francs and sterling for its Vita Nova Hedge Fund, for non-US investors looking for protection against equity and bond market falls.

The new share classes are in addition to dollar denominated shares. MPG said that the Vita Nova fund has had 47 consecutive months of positive returns since its launch in August 2014, with a 23.7% return over 12 months to the end of January 2019, and a 116% return since launch.

MPG chief executive officer, Jeremy Leach, commented: “Equities are clearly overpriced, and their limited upside potential is heavily outweighed by the potential for a market correction. Markets may move sideways but there is potential for an event-driven slump. Investors have already been diversifying into gold this year but many are keen to invest in other asset classes, but a lot of investors are not keen to have just US dollar holdings.”

Leach added that investors based outside the US could avoid currency hedging with the new share classes. The Vita Nova hedge fund had reduced its equity exposure by early November 2018, apart from some unlisted stocks. The fund uses a global macro investment mandate to move between asset classes, based on economic forecasts, interest rate trends, global imbalances, business cycles and other factors that could lead to arbitrage and alpha opportunities.