UK / EUROPE – Barclays Global Investors (BGI), with€838bn under management,.has launched a new type of fund of hedge funds aimed at European institutional investors, Barclays Global Investors Diversified Alpha Funds (DAF),

BGI has appointed sub-advisers following a review and research undertaken by Evaluation Associates Capital Markets, a US based multi-manager hedge fund vehicle investment advisory firm. Information on the sub-advisers is not yet available.

The fund will be hedged into a selection of currencies under the control of BGI, who will also be responsible for the asset allocation of the fund. It aims to generate absolute returns irrespective of equity and bond markets by using a range of hedge fund managers (the sub-advisers), who have been specially chosen by virtue of the alternative strategies they offer.

Comments Kevin Coldiron, head of alternative investments at BGI Europe : “We are seeing increasing interest from institutional investors in alternative investments, however they are expressing concerns about the liquidity, transparency and safekeeping of risk of existing options.”

DAF will be registered in Dublin but managed out of London by BGI.