CHANNEL ISLANDS – Unigestion Asset Management and Societe Generale's subsidiary Lyxor AM have launched a range of single-strategy funds of hedge funds, called ‘Bricks’.

Unigestion and Lyxor said that Bricks allow investors to establish their own strategic allocation in hedge funds.

The newly launched tools are domiciled in Jersey, quoted in Dublin and managed in Geneva, a Unigestion spokesman told IPE.

The range currently includes convertible arbitrage, Cta, event-driven, forex, global macro, long/short equity long bias, long/short equity variable bias and long/short equity no bias.

Scandinavian and Swiss institutional investors have been particularly interested in the new products, in which €80m have been invested so far, the spokesman added.

The advantages of Bricks for institutional investors include an ability to buy and sell them on a weekly basis, he said.

The funds making up Bricks are selected by Unigestion from Lyxor AM's managed account platform, which includes more than 140 funds.

Unigestion said that for each Brick it has identified different diversification and optimisation factors for the weighting of funds. Selection and weighting are reviewed every month to optimise the risk return ratio.

Unigestion also offers to inform investors of its short-term performance forecasts for each Brick on a monthly basis.

Lyxor AM monitors and values the managed accounts on its platform reserving the right to exclude those that breach the investment guidelines established at the outset.

Lyxor is also planning to provide weekly reports including the net asset value of each fund.

Detailed breakdowns of each Brick, including the performance of each investment component, can be provided on request.