US/EUROPE - Advanced Investment Technology (AIT), a unit of State Street Global Alliance – the firm’s strategic partnership with e150bn Dutch pension fund ABP to invest seed capital in fledgling specialist asset management firms, has launched a long/short market neutral strategy product, securing ABP itself as its first client.

The long/short market neutral strategy applies AIT’s stock selection process to generate stock-specific return forecasts for stocks within the strategy’s eligible selection universe.

The objective of the absolute return strategy is to generate total returns net of fees above the 91-day U.S. Treasury bill benchmark, with a low correlation to major stock and bond markets.
Investments may be in equity securities of U.S. corporations and non-U.S. companies traded on U.S. securities exchanges.

Jan Straatman, chief investment officer for global equities at Amsterdam-based ABP Investments, comments: “We are excited by the opportunity to access AIT’s proprietary investment capabilities through this innovative product offering.”
He adds: “The AIT team has a strong track record of outperforming their established benchmarks and delivering significant value through the firm’s unique combination of advanced fundamental portfolio analysis and leading-edge quantitative techniques. AIT and their investment strategies complement and facilitate our active portfolio management objectives of providing significant returns while maintaining rigorous portfolio risk controls.”