Friday, March 14, 2008

HLG Unit Trust teams up with Citibank, Permal on fixed income feeder fund

TheEdge

KUALA LUMPUR: HLG Unit Trust Bhd has entered into its first partnership with two US-based global financial services groups, Citibank and Permal Investment Management Services Ltd, with the launch of a fixed income feeder fund, HLG Fixed Income Holdings Fund.

Amid volatile equities markets globally, the fund aimed to provide investors with an alternative investment option that strives for consistent above-market returns in any market conditions, while maintaining a lower risk profile than traditional investments, said Citibank Bhd’s head of retail banking, Paul Hodes, at the launch of the feeder fund here yesterday.

The fund will invest at least 95% of its net asset value into the underlying fund, Permal Fixed Income Holdings NV (PFIH), which focuses on employing fixed income long, fixed income trading, macro, relative value arbitrage and event driven strategies.


From left: Citibank Bhd CEO Sanjeev Nanavati, Citibank head of retail banking Paul Hodes, HLG Asset Management CEO Richard Lin, Permal Singapore Pte Ltd & Permal Hong Kong Ltd MD Bo Kratz and Citibank country business manager Michellina Triwardhany at the launching of the Hong Leong Fixed Income Holdings Fund in KL yesterday.

One of the world’s largest alternative asset management groups and with over US$37 billion of assets under management, Permal claims to set the standards for hedge funds, offering an array of portfolios invested across a wide range of strategies, regions, and risk/return objectives.

Under the tripartite collaboration, sales distribution will be handled by both Citibank and HLG Unit Trust’s agency force, while Permal manages the underlying fund. Hodes said the underlying fund adopted a multi-concept approach, which strives to assemble the optimal mix of managers and strategies.

“As investors seek out products that respond to the changing dynamics in investment, we are proud to launch such a product to the investing public.

“HLG Fixed Income Holdings Fund is specially developed for the rollout of this new partnership and exclusive distribution rights have been awarded to Citibank,” said HLG Asset Management Sdn Bhd’s executive director and chief executive officer, Richard Lin.

According to figures provided by HLG Unit Trust, Permal’s fixed income fund managed returns of about 10% over the past five years, with a relatively low risk of 3.4 in terms of standard deviation.

The current approved size for the newly launched fund is 300 million units, while the minimum initial investment is RM100,000. Each unit is priced at 50 sen during the initial offer period between March 12 and April 1, 2008.


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