Matrix Money Management, a U.K. hedge fund specialist, will launch a structured product that gives retail investors access to a single hedge fund next month. "This is the first structured product we've done," said Bridget Cleverly, managing director in London.
Cleverly said it purchased an Asian call option and zero-coupon bond from BNP Paribas to structure the deal. Retail investors can buy shares in the closed-ended 'Matrix Ascension Fund,' which invests in the structured product referenced to the returns of a systematic managed futures fund run by Winton Capital Management.
"We wanted to offer a fund with high returns within a structure with some capital protection," explained Cleverly. Winton's 'Trading Strategies Fund' has a target volatility of 22% and has annualized returns over the last few years of 20% a year. Several fund-linked products targeted at retail investors have been launched recently, noted Cleverly, but this one is believed to be the first to use an Asian call option plus zero-coupon bond structure--rather than constant proportion portfolio insurance--to give high returns with capital protection.
