AXA Investment Managers is planning to launch an offshore statistical arbitrage hedge fund that will use over-the-counter derivatives and is expected to grow to EUR250 million (USD245million). Antoine Josserand, director of structured and alternative investment management in London, said the fund will have seed capital of EUR15 million and be targeted at investors in the U.S. and Europe. However, it has not been determined when the fund will start trading or when it will open to investors.
The firm plans for the fund to have a Sharpe ratio of one, but Josserand would not specify the target return or volatility. AXA will not have a prime broker for the fund, rather, it will use a group of counterparties, which he would not specify.
AXA currently manages two funds, an Asian absolute return fund that it opened to investors in May and has EUR17 million and an onshore statistical arb fund that is currently run with internal capital.
