NIB Capital Asset Management plans to launch alternative investment products for its institutional investor clients. Willy Simon, advisor to the board in Utrecht, said it is looking at buying a hedge fund manager or a fund of funds within the next six weeks. The hedge fund managers will be free to use derivatives.
Simon said it has decided to enter the alternative investment arena partly because of the poor performance of global equities. He added, "the time for one-way bets on the stock market is over." Simon joined in May from Fortis Investment Management in Brussels, where he was ceo.
NIB Capital Asset Management's sister company NIB Capital Private Equity manages EUR14 billion of private equity funds. It includes two of the Netherlands' largest pension funds, ABP and PGGM, as its clients, and Simon said the asset manager would be looking to recruit similar clients for its alternative strategies.
